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Revision 1.7 by root, Fri Jul 13 13:05:38 2001 UTC vs.
Revision 1.104 by root, Thu Jan 4 23:49:27 2007 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3Coro - create and manage simple coroutines 3Coro - coroutine process abstraction
4 4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 6
7 use Coro; 7 use Coro;
8 8
9 $new = new Coro sub { 9 async {
10 print "in coroutine, switching back\n"; 10 # some asynchronous thread of execution
11 $new->transfer($main);
12 print "in coroutine again, switching back\n";
13 $new->transfer($main);
14 }; 11 };
15 12
16 $main = new Coro; 13 # alternatively create an async coroutine like this:
17 14
18 print "in main, switching to coroutine\n"; 15 sub some_func : Coro {
19 $main->transfer($new); 16 # some more async code
20 print "back in main, switch to coroutine again\n"; 17 }
21 $main->transfer($new); 18
22 print "back in main\n"; 19 cede;
23 20
24=head1 DESCRIPTION 21=head1 DESCRIPTION
25 22
26This module implements coroutines. Coroutines, similar to continuations, 23This module collection manages coroutines. Coroutines are similar
27allow you to run more than one "thread of execution" in parallel. Unlike 24to threads but don't run in parallel at the same time even on SMP
28threads this, only voluntary switching is used so locking problems are 25machines. The specific flavor of coroutine use din this module also
29greatly reduced. 26guarentees you that it will not switch between coroutines unless
27necessary, at easily-identified points in your program, so locking and
28parallel access are rarely an issue, making coroutine programming much
29safer than threads programming.
30 30
31Although this is the "main" module of the Coro family it provides only 31(Perl, however, does not natively support real threads but instead does a
32low-level functionality. See L<Coro::Process> and related modules for a 32very slow and memory-intensive emulation of processes using threads. This
33more useful process abstraction including scheduling. 33is a performance win on Windows machines, and a loss everywhere else).
34
35In this module, coroutines are defined as "callchain + lexical variables +
36@_ + $_ + $@ + $/ + C stack), that is, a coroutine has its own callchain,
37its own set of lexicals and its own set of perls most important global
38variables.
39
40=cut
41
42package Coro;
43
44use strict;
45no warnings "uninitialized";
46
47use Coro::State;
48
49use base qw(Coro::State Exporter);
50
51our $idle; # idle handler
52our $main; # main coroutine
53our $current; # current coroutine
54
55our $VERSION = '3.3';
56
57our @EXPORT = qw(async cede schedule terminate current unblock_sub);
58our %EXPORT_TAGS = (
59 prio => [qw(PRIO_MAX PRIO_HIGH PRIO_NORMAL PRIO_LOW PRIO_IDLE PRIO_MIN)],
60);
61our @EXPORT_OK = (@{$EXPORT_TAGS{prio}}, qw(nready));
62
63{
64 my @async;
65 my $init;
66
67 # this way of handling attributes simply is NOT scalable ;()
68 sub import {
69 no strict 'refs';
70
71 Coro->export_to_level (1, @_);
72
73 my $old = *{(caller)[0]."::MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES"}{CODE};
74 *{(caller)[0]."::MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES"} = sub {
75 my ($package, $ref) = (shift, shift);
76 my @attrs;
77 for (@_) {
78 if ($_ eq "Coro") {
79 push @async, $ref;
80 unless ($init++) {
81 eval q{
82 sub INIT {
83 &async(pop @async) while @async;
84 }
85 };
86 }
87 } else {
88 push @attrs, $_;
89 }
90 }
91 return $old ? $old->($package, $ref, @attrs) : @attrs;
92 };
93 }
94
95}
34 96
35=over 4 97=over 4
36 98
37=cut 99=item $main
38 100
39package Coro; 101This coroutine represents the main program.
40 102
41BEGIN { 103=cut
42 $VERSION = 0.03;
43 104
105$main = new Coro;
106
107=item $current (or as function: current)
108
109The current coroutine (the last coroutine switched to). The initial value
110is C<$main> (of course).
111
112This variable is B<strictly> I<read-only>. It is provided for performance
113reasons. If performance is not essentiel you are encouraged to use the
114C<Coro::current> function instead.
115
116=cut
117
118# maybe some other module used Coro::Specific before...
119$main->{specific} = $current->{specific}
120 if $current;
121
122_set_current $main;
123
124sub current() { $current }
125
126=item $idle
127
128A callback that is called whenever the scheduler finds no ready coroutines
129to run. The default implementation prints "FATAL: deadlock detected" and
130exits, because the program has no other way to continue.
131
132This hook is overwritten by modules such as C<Coro::Timer> and
133C<Coro::Event> to wait on an external event that hopefully wake up a
134coroutine so the scheduler can run it.
135
136Please note that if your callback recursively invokes perl (e.g. for event
137handlers), then it must be prepared to be called recursively.
138
139=cut
140
141$idle = sub {
44 require XSLoader; 142 require Carp;
45 XSLoader::load Coro, $VERSION; 143 Carp::croak ("FATAL: deadlock detected");
46} 144};
47 145
48=item $coro = new [$coderef [, @args]] 146sub _cancel {
147 my ($self) = @_;
49 148
50Create a new coroutine and return it. The first C<transfer> call to this 149 # free coroutine data and mark as destructed
51coroutine will start execution at the given coderef. If, the subroutine 150 $self->_destroy
52returns it will be executed again. 151 or return;
53 152
54If the coderef is omitted this function will create a new "empty" 153 # call all destruction callbacks
55coroutine, i.e. a coroutine that cannot be transfered to but can be used 154 $_->(@{$self->{status}})
56to save the current coroutine in. 155 for @{(delete $self->{destroy_cb}) || []};
156}
57 157
158# this coroutine is necessary because a coroutine
159# cannot destroy itself.
160my @destroy;
161my $manager;
162
163$manager = new Coro sub {
164 while () {
165 (shift @destroy)->_cancel
166 while @destroy;
167
168 &schedule;
169 }
170};
171
172$manager->prio (PRIO_MAX);
173
174# static methods. not really.
175
176=back
177
178=head2 STATIC METHODS
179
180Static methods are actually functions that operate on the current coroutine only.
181
182=over 4
183
184=item async { ... } [@args...]
185
186Create a new asynchronous coroutine and return it's coroutine object
187(usually unused). When the sub returns the new coroutine is automatically
188terminated.
189
190Calling C<exit> in a coroutine will not work correctly, so do not do that.
191
192When the coroutine dies, the program will exit, just as in the main
193program.
194
195 # create a new coroutine that just prints its arguments
196 async {
197 print "@_\n";
198 } 1,2,3,4;
199
58=cut 200=cut
201
202sub async(&@) {
203 my $coro = new Coro @_;
204 $coro->ready;
205 $coro
206}
207
208=item schedule
209
210Calls the scheduler. Please note that the current coroutine will not be put
211into the ready queue, so calling this function usually means you will
212never be called again unless something else (e.g. an event handler) calls
213ready.
214
215The canonical way to wait on external events is this:
216
217 {
218 # remember current coroutine
219 my $current = $Coro::current;
220
221 # register a hypothetical event handler
222 on_event_invoke sub {
223 # wake up sleeping coroutine
224 $current->ready;
225 undef $current;
226 };
227
228 # call schedule until event occured.
229 # in case we are woken up for other reasons
230 # (current still defined), loop.
231 Coro::schedule while $current;
232 }
233
234=item cede
235
236"Cede" to other coroutines. This function puts the current coroutine into the
237ready queue and calls C<schedule>, which has the effect of giving up the
238current "timeslice" to other coroutines of the same or higher priority.
239
240=item Coro::cede_notself
241
242Works like cede, but is not exported by default and will cede to any
243coroutine, regardless of priority, once.
244
245=item terminate [arg...]
246
247Terminates the current coroutine with the given status values (see L<cancel>).
248
249=cut
250
251sub terminate {
252 $current->cancel (@_);
253}
254
255=back
256
257# dynamic methods
258
259=head2 COROUTINE METHODS
260
261These are the methods you can call on coroutine objects.
262
263=over 4
264
265=item new Coro \&sub [, @args...]
266
267Create a new coroutine and return it. When the sub returns the coroutine
268automatically terminates as if C<terminate> with the returned values were
269called. To make the coroutine run you must first put it into the ready queue
270by calling the ready method.
271
272Calling C<exit> in a coroutine will not work correctly, so do not do that.
273
274=cut
275
276sub _run_coro {
277 terminate &{+shift};
278}
59 279
60sub new { 280sub new {
61 my $class = $_[0]; 281 my $class = shift;
62 my $proc = $_[1] || sub { die "tried to transfer to an empty coroutine" };
63 bless _newprocess {
64 do {
65 eval { &$proc };
66 if ($@) {
67 $error_msg = $@;
68 $error_coro = _newprocess { };
69 &transfer($error_coro, $error);
70 }
71 } while (1);
72 }, $class;
73}
74 282
75=item $prev->transfer($next) 283 $class->SUPER::new (\&_run_coro, @_)
284}
76 285
77Save the state of the current subroutine in C<$prev> and switch to the 286=item $success = $coroutine->ready
78coroutine saved in C<$next>.
79 287
80The "state" of a subroutine only ever includes scope, i.e. lexical 288Put the given coroutine into the ready queue (according to it's priority)
81variables and the current execution state. It does not save/restore any 289and return true. If the coroutine is already in the ready queue, do nothing
82global variables such as C<$_> or C<$@> or any other special or non 290and return false.
83special variables. So remember that every function call that might call
84C<transfer> (such as C<Coro::Channel::put>) might clobber any global
85and/or special variables. Yes, this is by design ;) You cna always create
86your own process abstraction model that saves these variables.
87 291
88The easiest way to do this is to create your own scheduling primitive like this: 292=item $is_ready = $coroutine->is_ready
89 293
90 sub schedule { 294Return wether the coroutine is currently the ready queue or not,
91 local ($_, $@, ...); 295
92 $old->transfer($new); 296=item $coroutine->cancel (arg...)
297
298Terminates the given coroutine and makes it return the given arguments as
299status (default: the empty list). Never returns if the coroutine is the
300current coroutine.
301
302=cut
303
304sub cancel {
305 my $self = shift;
306 $self->{status} = [@_];
307
308 if ($current == $self) {
309 push @destroy, $self;
310 $manager->ready;
311 &schedule while 1;
312 } else {
313 $self->_cancel;
93 } 314 }
94
95=cut
96
97# I call the _transfer function from a perl function
98# because that way perl saves all important things on
99# the stack. Actually, I'd do it from within XS, but
100# I couldn't get it to work.
101sub transfer {
102 _transfer($_[0], $_[1]);
103} 315}
104 316
105=item $error, $error_msg, $error_coro 317=item $coroutine->join
106 318
107This coroutine will be called on fatal errors. C<$error_msg> and 319Wait until the coroutine terminates and return any values given to the
108C<$error_coro> return the error message and the error-causing coroutine 320C<terminate> or C<cancel> functions. C<join> can be called multiple times
109(NOT an object) respectively. This API might change. 321from multiple coroutine.
110 322
111=cut 323=cut
112 324
113$error_msg = 325sub join {
114$error_coro = undef; 326 my $self = shift;
115 327
116$error = _newprocess { 328 unless ($self->{status}) {
117 print STDERR "FATAL: $error_msg\nprogram aborted\n"; 329 my $current = $current;
118 exit 50; 330
331 push @{$self->{destroy_cb}}, sub {
332 $current->ready;
333 undef $current;
334 };
335
336 &schedule while $current;
337 }
338
339 wantarray ? @{$self->{status}} : $self->{status}[0];
340}
341
342=item $coroutine->on_destroy (\&cb)
343
344Registers a callback that is called when this coroutine gets destroyed,
345but before it is joined. The callback gets passed the terminate arguments,
346if any.
347
348=cut
349
350sub on_destroy {
351 my ($self, $cb) = @_;
352
353 push @{ $self->{destroy_cb} }, $cb;
354}
355
356=item $oldprio = $coroutine->prio ($newprio)
357
358Sets (or gets, if the argument is missing) the priority of the
359coroutine. Higher priority coroutines get run before lower priority
360coroutines. Priorities are small signed integers (currently -4 .. +3),
361that you can refer to using PRIO_xxx constants (use the import tag :prio
362to get then):
363
364 PRIO_MAX > PRIO_HIGH > PRIO_NORMAL > PRIO_LOW > PRIO_IDLE > PRIO_MIN
365 3 > 1 > 0 > -1 > -3 > -4
366
367 # set priority to HIGH
368 current->prio(PRIO_HIGH);
369
370The idle coroutine ($Coro::idle) always has a lower priority than any
371existing coroutine.
372
373Changing the priority of the current coroutine will take effect immediately,
374but changing the priority of coroutines in the ready queue (but not
375running) will only take effect after the next schedule (of that
376coroutine). This is a bug that will be fixed in some future version.
377
378=item $newprio = $coroutine->nice ($change)
379
380Similar to C<prio>, but subtract the given value from the priority (i.e.
381higher values mean lower priority, just as in unix).
382
383=item $olddesc = $coroutine->desc ($newdesc)
384
385Sets (or gets in case the argument is missing) the description for this
386coroutine. This is just a free-form string you can associate with a coroutine.
387
388=cut
389
390sub desc {
391 my $old = $_[0]{desc};
392 $_[0]{desc} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
393 $old;
394}
395
396=back
397
398=head2 GLOBAL FUNCTIONS
399
400=over 4
401
402=item Coro::nready
403
404Returns the number of coroutines that are currently in the ready state,
405i.e. that can be swicthed to. The value C<0> means that the only runnable
406coroutine is the currently running one, so C<cede> would have no effect,
407and C<schedule> would cause a deadlock unless there is an idle handler
408that wakes up some coroutines.
409
410=item my $guard = Coro::guard { ... }
411
412This creates and returns a guard object. Nothing happens until the objetc
413gets destroyed, in which case the codeblock given as argument will be
414executed. This is useful to free locks or other resources in case of a
415runtime error or when the coroutine gets canceled, as in both cases the
416guard block will be executed. The guard object supports only one method,
417C<< ->cancel >>, which will keep the codeblock from being executed.
418
419Example: set some flag and clear it again when the coroutine gets canceled
420or the function returns:
421
422 sub do_something {
423 my $guard = Coro::guard { $busy = 0 };
424 $busy = 1;
425
426 # do something that requires $busy to be true
427 }
428
429=cut
430
431sub guard(&) {
432 bless \(my $cb = $_[0]), "Coro::guard"
433}
434
435sub Coro::guard::cancel {
436 ${$_[0]} = sub { };
437}
438
439sub Coro::guard::DESTROY {
440 ${$_[0]}->();
441}
442
443
444=item unblock_sub { ... }
445
446This utility function takes a BLOCK or code reference and "unblocks" it,
447returning the new coderef. This means that the new coderef will return
448immediately without blocking, returning nothing, while the original code
449ref will be called (with parameters) from within its own coroutine.
450
451The reason this fucntion exists is that many event libraries (such as the
452venerable L<Event|Event> module) are not coroutine-safe (a weaker form
453of thread-safety). This means you must not block within event callbacks,
454otherwise you might suffer from crashes or worse.
455
456This function allows your callbacks to block by executing them in another
457coroutine where it is safe to block. One example where blocking is handy
458is when you use the L<Coro::AIO|Coro::AIO> functions to save results to
459disk.
460
461In short: simply use C<unblock_sub { ... }> instead of C<sub { ... }> when
462creating event callbacks that want to block.
463
464=cut
465
466our @unblock_pool;
467our @unblock_queue;
468our $UNBLOCK_POOL_SIZE = 2;
469
470sub unblock_handler_ {
471 while () {
472 my ($cb, @arg) = @{ delete $Coro::current->{arg} };
473 $cb->(@arg);
474
475 last if @unblock_pool >= $UNBLOCK_POOL_SIZE;
476 push @unblock_pool, $Coro::current;
477 schedule;
478 }
479}
480
481our $unblock_scheduler = async {
482 while () {
483 while (my $cb = pop @unblock_queue) {
484 my $handler = (pop @unblock_pool or new Coro \&unblock_handler_);
485 $handler->{arg} = $cb;
486 $handler->ready;
487 cede;
488 }
489
490 schedule;
491 }
119}; 492};
120 493
494sub unblock_sub(&) {
495 my $cb = shift;
496
497 sub {
498 push @unblock_queue, [$cb, @_];
499 $unblock_scheduler->ready;
500 }
501}
502
503=back
504
505=cut
506
1211; 5071;
122 508
123=back 509=head1 BUGS/LIMITATIONS
124 510
125=head1 BUGS 511 - you must make very sure that no coro is still active on global
512 destruction. very bad things might happen otherwise (usually segfaults).
126 513
127This module has not yet been extensively tested. 514 - this module is not thread-safe. You should only ever use this module
515 from the same thread (this requirement might be losened in the future
516 to allow per-thread schedulers, but Coro::State does not yet allow
517 this).
128 518
129=head1 SEE ALSO 519=head1 SEE ALSO
130 520
131L<Coro::Process>, L<Coro::Signal>. 521Support/Utility: L<Coro::Cont>, L<Coro::Specific>, L<Coro::State>, L<Coro::Util>.
522
523Locking/IPC: L<Coro::Signal>, L<Coro::Channel>, L<Coro::Semaphore>, L<Coro::SemaphoreSet>, L<Coro::RWLock>.
524
525Event/IO: L<Coro::Timer>, L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro::Handle>, L<Coro::Socket>, L<Coro::Select>.
526
527Embedding: L<Coro:MakeMaker>
132 528
133=head1 AUTHOR 529=head1 AUTHOR
134 530
135 Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com> 531 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
136 http://www.goof.com/pcg/marc/ 532 http://home.schmorp.de/
137 533
138=cut 534=cut
139 535

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