process

This module allows parallel processing by providing classes and functions that allows for spawning operating system processes thereby leveraging multiple processors on a machine.

Example Usage:

var paged = PagedValue()

var pr = Process(@(p, s) {
  echo 'It works!'
  echo p.id()
  s.set({name: 'Richard', age: 3.142})
}, paged)

pr.on_complete(@{
  echo paged.get()
})

pr.start()
echo 'It works fine!'
# pr.await()  # this can be used to wait for completion.
echo 'It works fine again!'

Output:

It works fine!
It works fine again!
It works!
75608
{name: Richard, age: 3.142}

Fields

process.cpu_count ➝ number

The number of CPU cores available on the current device.

Functions

process.process(fn, paged) ➝ Exported

Creates a new instance of Process for the function fn. This constructor accepts an optional PagedValue.

The function passed to a process must accept at least one parameter which will be passed the instance of the process itself and at most two parameters if the process was initialized with a PagedValue.

• @params:
  • function fn
  • PageValue? paged

Classes

class PagedValue

The PagedValue object allows the sharing of single value/state between processes and the main application or one another.

PagedValue supports the following types:

• Boolean
• Number
• String
• List
• Dictionary

@note Lists and Dictionaries cannot be nested in a PagedValue.

.PagedValue(executable, private) ➝ Constructor

process.PagedValue constructor

• @params:
  • bool? executable
  • bool? private

.lock()

Locks the PagedValue and disallows updating the value.

.unlock()

Unlocks the PagedValue to allow for updating the value.

.is_locked()

Returns true if the PagedValue is locked for updating or false otherwise.

@notes:

• a PagedValue is locked if in an invalid state.

• @returns: boolean

.set(value)

Sets the value of the PagedValue to the given value. It returns the number of bytes written or false if the PagedValue is in an invalid state.

• @params:
  • boolean|number|string|list|dictionary value

• @returns: number | boolean

.locked_set(value)

Locks the PagedValue for writing then sets the value to the given value and unlocks it. It returns the number of bytes written or false if the PagedValue is in an invalid state.

• @params:
  • boolean|number|string|list|dictionary value

• @returns: number | boolean

.get()

Returns the value stored in the PagedValue or nil if no value has been set.

• @returns: any

.raw_pointer()

Returns the pointer to the raw memory paged location pointed to by the object.

• @returns: ptr

class Process

This class allows creating and spawning operating system processes and using them to run functions.

.Process(fn, paged) ➝ Constructor

Creates a new instance of Process for the function fn. This constructor accepts an optional PagedValue.

The function passed to a process must accept at least one parameter which will be passed the instance of the process itself and at most two parameters if the process was initialized with a PagedValue.

• @params:
  • function fn
  • PageValue? paged

.id()

Returns the ID of the process or -1 if the process is in an invalid state or has not been started.

• @returns: number

.on_complete(fn)

Adds a new listener to be called when the process finishes execution.

• @params:
  • function fn

.start()

Starts/runs the process. This function returns true or false if the process is in an invalid state.

• @returns: boolean

.await()

Awaits for the process to finish running and returns it's exit code or -1 if the process is in an invalid state. Await can be used without start(). If await() is called without a previous call to start(), the await automatically calls start().

• @returns: number

.is_alive()

Returns true if the process is running or false if not.

• @returns: boolean

.kill()

Kills the running process. Returns true if the process was successfully killed or false otherwise.

• @returns: boolean