Method: Fiber#transfer

Defined in:

cont.c

#transfer(args, ...) ⇒ Object

Transfer control to another fiber, resuming it from where it last stopped or starting it if it was not resumed before. The calling fiber will be suspended much like in a call to Fiber.yield.

The fiber which receives the transfer call treats it much like a resume call. Arguments passed to transfer are treated like those passed to resume.

The two style of control passing to and from fiber (one is #resume and Fiber::yield, another is #transfer to and from fiber) can’t be freely mixed.

• If the Fiber’s lifecycle had started with transfer, it will never be able to yield or be resumed control passing, only finish or transfer back. (It still can resume other fibers that are allowed to be resumed.)

• If the Fiber’s lifecycle had started with resume, it can yield or transfer to another Fiber, but can receive control back only the way compatible with the way it was given away: if it had transferred, it only can be transferred back, and if it had yielded, it only can be resumed back. After that, it again can transfer or yield.

If those rules are broken FiberError is raised.

For an individual Fiber design, yield/resume is easier to use (the Fiber just gives away control, it doesn’t need to think about who the control is given to), while transfer is more flexible for complex cases, allowing to build arbitrary graphs of Fibers dependent on each other.

Example:

manager = nil # For local var to be visible inside worker block

# This fiber would be started with transfer
# It can't yield, and can't be resumed
worker = Fiber.new { |work|
  puts "Worker: starts"
  puts "Worker: Performed #{work.inspect}, transferring back"
  # Fiber.yield     # this would raise FiberError: attempt to yield on a not resumed fiber
  # manager.resume  # this would raise FiberError: attempt to resume a resumed fiber (double resume)
  manager.transfer(work.capitalize)
}

# This fiber would be started with resume
# It can yield or transfer, and can be transferred
# back or resumed
manager = Fiber.new {
  puts "Manager: starts"
  puts "Manager: transferring 'something' to worker"
  result = worker.transfer('something')
  puts "Manager: worker returned #{result.inspect}"
  # worker.resume    # this would raise FiberError: attempt to resume a transferring fiber
  Fiber.yield        # this is OK, the fiber transferred from and to, now it can yield
  puts "Manager: finished"
}

puts "Starting the manager"
manager.resume
puts "Resuming the manager"
# manager.transfer  # this would raise FiberError: attempt to transfer to a yielding fiber
manager.resume

produces

Starting the manager
Manager: starts
Manager: transferring 'something' to worker
Worker: starts
Worker: Performed "something", transferring back
Manager: worker returned "Something"
Resuming the manager
Manager: finished

Returns:

# File 'cont.c', line 3101

static VALUE
rb_fiber_m_transfer(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
{
    return rb_fiber_transfer_kw(self, argc, argv, rb_keyword_given_p());
}