import threading, zipfile  class AsyncZip(threading.Thread):   def __init__(self, infile, outfile):     threading.Thread.__init__(self)     self.infile = infile     self.outfile = outfile   def run(self):     f = zipfile.ZipFile(self.outfile, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)     f.write(self.infile)     f.close()     print('Finished background zip of:', self.infile)  background = AsyncZip('mydata.txt', 'myarchive.zip') background.start() print('The main program continues to run in foreground.')  background.join()  # Wait for the background task to finish print('Main program waited until background was done.') 

The main program continues to run in foreground. Finished background zip of: mydata.txt Main program waited until background was done. Press any key to continue . . .