Class: Concurrent::Delay

Inherits:
Synchronization::LockableObject
  • Object
show all
Includes:
Concern::Obligation
Defined in:
lib/concurrent/delay.rb

Overview

Note:

The default behavior of ‘Delay` is to block indefinitely when calling either `value` or `wait`, executing the delayed operation on the current thread. This makes the `timeout` value completely irrelevant. To enable non-blocking behavior, use the `executor` constructor option. This will cause the delayed operation to be execute on the given executor, allowing the call to timeout.

Lazy evaluation of a block yielding an immutable result. Useful for expensive operations that may never be needed. It may be non-blocking, supports the ‘Concern::Obligation` interface, and accepts the injection of custom executor upon which to execute the block. Processing of block will be deferred until the first time `#value` is called. At that time the caller can choose to return immediately and let the block execute asynchronously, block indefinitely, or block with a timeout.

When a ‘Delay` is created its state is set to `pending`. The value and reason are both `nil`. The first time the `#value` method is called the enclosed opration will be run and the calling thread will block. Other threads attempting to call `#value` will block as well. Once the operation is complete the value will be set to the result of the operation or the reason will be set to the raised exception, as appropriate. All threads blocked on `#value` will return. Subsequent calls to `#value` will immediately return the cached value. The operation will only be run once. This means that any side effects created by the operation will only happen once as well.

‘Delay` includes the `Concurrent::Concern::Dereferenceable` mixin to support thread safety of the reference returned by `#value`.

## Copy Options

Object references in Ruby are mutable. This can lead to serious problems when the #value of an object is a mutable reference. Which is always the case unless the value is a ‘Fixnum`, `Symbol`, or similar “primative” data type. Each instance can be configured with a few options that can help protect the program from potentially dangerous operations. Each of these options can be optionally set when the oject instance is created:

  • ‘:dup_on_deref` When true the object will call the `#dup` method on the `value` object every time the `#value` methid is called (default: false)

  • ‘:freeze_on_deref` When true the object will call the `#freeze` method on the `value` object every time the `#value` method is called (default: false)

  • ‘:copy_on_deref` When given a `Proc` object the `Proc` will be run every time the `#value` method is called. The `Proc` will be given the current `value` as its only argument and the result returned by the block will be the return value of the `#value` call. When `nil` this option will be ignored (default: nil)

When multiple deref options are set the order of operations is strictly defined. The order of deref operations is:

  • ‘:copy_on_deref`

  • ‘:dup_on_deref`

  • ‘:freeze_on_deref`

Because of this ordering there is no need to ‘#freeze` an object created by a provided `:copy_on_deref` block. Simply set `:freeze_on_deref` to `true`. Setting both `:dup_on_deref` to `true` and `:freeze_on_deref` to `true` is as close to the behavior of a “pure” functional language (like Erlang, Clojure, or Haskell) as we are likely to get in Ruby.

See Also:

Instance Method Summary collapse

Methods included from Concern::Obligation

#complete?, #exception, #fulfilled?, #incomplete?, #pending?, #reason, #rejected?, #state, #unscheduled?, #wait!

Constructor Details

#initialize(opts = {}) { ... } ⇒ Delay

Create a new ‘Delay` in the `:pending` state.

Parameters:

  • opts (Hash) (defaults to: {}) —

    the options used to define the behavior at update and deref and to specify the executor on which to perform actions

Options Hash (opts):

  • :executor (Executor) —

    when set use the given ‘Executor` instance. Three special values are also supported: `:task` returns the global task pool, `:operation` returns the global operation pool, and `:immediate` returns a new `ImmediateExecutor` object.

  • :dup_on_deref (Boolean) — default: false —

    Call ‘#dup` before returning the data from #value

  • :freeze_on_deref (Boolean) — default: false —

    Call ‘#freeze` before returning the data from #value

  • :copy_on_deref (Proc) — default: nil —

    When calling the #value method, call the given proc passing the internal value as the sole argument then return the new value returned from the proc.

Yields:

  • the delayed operation to perform

Raises:

  • (ArgumentError) —

    if no block is given



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# File 'lib/concurrent/delay.rb', line 62

def initialize(opts = {}, &block)
  raise ArgumentError.new('no block given') unless block_given?
  super(&nil)
  synchronize { ns_initialize(opts, &block) }
end

Instance Method Details

#reconfigure { ... } ⇒ true, false

Reconfigures the block returning the value if still ‘#incomplete?`

Yields:

  • the delayed operation to perform

Returns:

  • (true, false) —

    if success



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# File 'lib/concurrent/delay.rb', line 144

def reconfigure(&block)
  synchronize do
    raise ArgumentError.new('no block given') unless block_given?
    unless @computing
      @task = block
      true
    else
      false
    end
  end
end

#value(timeout = nil) ⇒ Object

Note:

The default behavior of ‘Delay` is to block indefinitely when calling either `value` or `wait`, executing the delayed operation on the current thread. This makes the `timeout` value completely irrelevant. To enable non-blocking behavior, use the `executor` constructor option. This will cause the delayed operation to be execute on the given executor, allowing the call to timeout.

Return the value this object represents after applying the options specified by the ‘#set_deref_options` method. If the delayed operation raised an exception this method will return nil. The execption object can be accessed via the `#reason` method.

Parameters:

  • timeout (Numeric) (defaults to: nil) —

    the maximum number of seconds to wait

Returns:

  • (Object) —

    the current value of the object



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# File 'lib/concurrent/delay.rb', line 77

def value(timeout = nil)
  if @executor # TODO (pitr 12-Sep-2015): broken unsafe read?
    super
  else
    # this function has been optimized for performance and
    # should not be modified without running new benchmarks
    synchronize do
      execute = @computing = true unless @computing
      if execute
        begin
          set_state(true, @task.call, nil)
        rescue => ex
          set_state(false, nil, ex)
        end
      end
    end
    if @do_nothing_on_deref
      @value
    else
      apply_deref_options(@value)
    end
  end
end

#value!(timeout = nil) ⇒ Object

Note:

The default behavior of ‘Delay` is to block indefinitely when calling either `value` or `wait`, executing the delayed operation on the current thread. This makes the `timeout` value completely irrelevant. To enable non-blocking behavior, use the `executor` constructor option. This will cause the delayed operation to be execute on the given executor, allowing the call to timeout.

Return the value this object represents after applying the options specified by the ‘#set_deref_options` method. If the delayed operation raised an exception, this method will raise that exception (even when) the operation has already been executed).

Parameters:

  • timeout (Numeric) (defaults to: nil) —

    the maximum number of seconds to wait

Returns:

  • (Object) —

    the current value of the object

Raises:

  • (Exception) —

    when ‘#rejected?` raises `#reason`



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# File 'lib/concurrent/delay.rb', line 111

def value!(timeout = nil)
  if @executor
    super
  else
    result = value
    raise @reason if @reason
    result
  end
end

#wait(timeout = nil) ⇒ Object

Note:

The default behavior of ‘Delay` is to block indefinitely when calling either `value` or `wait`, executing the delayed operation on the current thread. This makes the `timeout` value completely irrelevant. To enable non-blocking behavior, use the `executor` constructor option. This will cause the delayed operation to be execute on the given executor, allowing the call to timeout.

Return the value this object represents after applying the options specified by the ‘#set_deref_options` method.

Parameters:

  • timeout (Integer) (defaults to: nil) —

    (nil) the maximum number of seconds to wait for the value to be computed. When ‘nil` the caller will block indefinitely.

Returns:

  • (Object) —

    self



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# File 'lib/concurrent/delay.rb', line 130

def wait(timeout = nil)
  if @executor
    execute_task_once
    super(timeout)
  else
    value
  end
  self
end