"

 This is a Manchester Goodie protected by copyright.

 These conditions are imposed on the whole Goodie, and on any significant

 part of it which is separately transmitted or stored:

	* You must ensure that every copy includes this notice, and that

	  source and author(s) of the material are acknowledged.

	* These conditions must be imposed on anyone who receives a copy.

	* The material shall not be used for commercial gain without the prior

	  written consent of the author(s).

 Further information on the copyright conditions may be obtained by

 sending electronic mail:

	To: goodies-lib@cs.man.ac.uk

	Subject: copyright

 or by writing to The Smalltalk Goodies Library Manager, Dept of

 Computer Science, The University, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

 (C) Copyright 1992 University of Manchester

 For more information about the Manchester Goodies Library (from which

 this file was distributed) send e-mail:

	To: goodies-lib@cs.man.ac.uk

	Subject: help

"

"{ Package: 'stx:libbasic2' }"

ProtoObject subclass:#Future

	instanceVariableNames:'result semaphore'

	classVariableNames:''

	poolDictionaries:''

	category:'Kernel-Processes'

!

!Future class methodsFor:'documentation'!

copyright

"

 This is a Manchester Goodie protected by copyright.

 These conditions are imposed on the whole Goodie, and on any significant

 part of it which is separately transmitted or stored:

	* You must ensure that every copy includes this notice, and that

	  source and author(s) of the material are acknowledged.

	* These conditions must be imposed on anyone who receives a copy.

	* The material shall not be used for commercial gain without the prior

	  written consent of the author(s).

 Further information on the copyright conditions may be obtained by

 sending electronic mail:

	To: goodies-lib@cs.man.ac.uk

	Subject: copyright

 or by writing to The Smalltalk Goodies Library Manager, Dept of

 Computer Science, The University, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

 (C) Copyright 1992 University of Manchester

 For more information about the Manchester Goodies Library (from which

 this file was distributed) send e-mail:

	To: goodies-lib@cs.man.ac.uk

	Subject: help

"

!

documentation

"

    I represent an execution in progress, which will be required some time

    in the future.

    I will immediately start execution in a separate process,

    but delay any messages sent to me, until the execution has completed.

    This is useful for time consuming operations (print jobs, compile jobs etc.),

    which can be done in the background and the user can do something else

    in the meantime. If the computation is finished before the user needs its

    value, he is not forced to wait.

    If the computation is unfinished, he has to wait for the remaining time only.

    [author:]

        tph@cs.man.ac.uk

    [see also:]

        Block Lazy LazyValue

"

!

examples

"

  Starts evaluating the factorial immediately, but waits until

  the result is available before printing the answer

                                                                    [exBegin]

    | fac |

    fac := [5000 factorial] futureValue.

    Transcript showCR: 'evaluating factorial...'.

    Dialog information:'You can do something useful now...'.

    Transcript showCR: fac

                                                                    [exEnd]

  An example illustrating the use of multiple futures and

  explicit resynchronisation.

  Starts evaluating both factorials immediately, but waits until

  both blocks have finished before continuing.

                                                                    [exBegin]

    | fac1 fac2 |

    fac1 := [Transcript showCR: 'Starting fac1.. '. 1000 factorial] futureValue.

    fac2 := [Transcript showCR: 'Starting fac2.. '. 2000 factorial] futureValue.

    fac2 isString.

    fac1 isString.

    Transcript showCR: 'both completed.'.

                                                                    [exEnd]

  Example showing how arguments may be passed to futures.

                                                                    [exBegin]

    | temp |

    temp := [:x :y | 10 * x * y] futureValue: 3 value: 4.

    Transcript  showCR: temp.

                                                                    [exEnd]

  Claus:

    The above examples do not really show the power of Futures;

    they can be useful, whenever some long-time computation is

    to be done, and some other useful work can be done in the meanwhile.

    for example:

    Without futures, the inputfile is read before opening the view;

    the readTime and view creation times sum up:

                                                                    [exBegin]

        |p text v|

        p := PipeStream readingFrom:'ls -l /bin /usr/bin /usr/lib'.

        text := p contents.

        p close.

        v := TextView new openAndWait.

        v contents:text

                                                                    [exEnd]

    The same here:

                                                                    [exBegin]

        |p text v|

        v := TextView new openAndWait.

        p := PipeStream readingFrom:'ls -l /bin /usr/bin /usr/lib'.

        text := p contents.

        p close.

        v contents:text

                                                                    [exEnd]

    With futures, the view creation and reading are done in parallel:

    (if the windowing system is slow when opening the view, the contents may

     be already available - especially on X window systems, where the user

     has to provide the window position with the mouse)

                                                                    [exBegin]

        |p text v|

        text := [   |p t|

                    p := PipeStream readingFrom:'ls -l /bin /usr/bin /usr/lib'.

                    t := p contents.

                    p close.

                    t

                ] futureValue.

        v := TextView new openAndWait.

        v contents:text

                                                                    [exEnd]

"

! !

!Future methodsFor:'evaluating'!

block:aBlock

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [result := aBlock ensure:[semaphore signal]] fork

    "Modified (format): / 04-10-2011 / 14:54:11 / cg"

!

block:aBlock value:aValue

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock value:aValue

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] fork

    "Modified (format): / 04-10-2011 / 14:54:18 / cg"

!

block:aBlock value:value1 value:value2

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock value:value1 value:value2

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] fork

    "Modified (format): / 04-10-2011 / 14:54:28 / cg"

!

block:aBlock value:value1 value:value2 value:value3

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock value:value1 value:value2 value:value3

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] fork

    "Modified (format): / 04-10-2011 / 14:54:45 / cg"

!

block:aBlock valueWithArguments:anArray

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock valueWithArguments:anArray

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] fork

    "Modified (format): / 04-10-2011 / 14:55:09 / cg"

!

priority:prio block: aBlock

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := aBlock ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] forkAt:prio

    "Created: / 04-10-2011 / 14:53:21 / cg"

!

priority:prio block: aBlock value: aValue

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock value:aValue

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] forkAt:prio

    "Created: / 04-10-2011 / 14:53:35 / cg"

!

priority:prio block:aBlock value:value1 value:value2

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock value:value1 value:value2

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] forkAt:prio

    "Created: / 04-10-2011 / 14:54:03 / cg"

!

priority:prio block:aBlock value:value1 value:value2 value:value3

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock value:value1 value:value2 value:value3

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] forkAt:prio

    "Created: / 04-10-2011 / 14:54:51 / cg"

!

priority:prio block:aBlock valueWithArguments:anArray

    "Execute aBlock in parallel with whatever called me, but

     ensure that any messages sent to me before execution

     of the block has terminated are suspended until it has terminated."

    semaphore := Semaphore new name:'Future'.

    [

        result := [

            aBlock valueWithArguments:anArray

        ] ensure:[semaphore signal]

    ] forkAt:prio

    "Created: / 04-10-2011 / 14:55:14 / cg"

! !

!Future methodsFor:'synchronising'!

doesNotUnderstand:aMessage

    "Any message to a Future will end up here."

    result isNil ifTrue:[

        IsDebuggingQuery query ifTrue:[

                "enable debugging / inspecting"

                    valueWithReceiver:self

                    arguments:aMessage arguments

             ].

        ] ifFalse:[

            semaphore waitUncounted. "Wait for evaluation to complete"

                                     "(if not already completed)"

        ].

    ].

    ^ result perform:aMessage selector withArguments:aMessage arguments

    "Modified: / 04-10-2011 / 17:37:18 / cg"

!

value

    result isNil ifTrue:[

        semaphore waitUncounted. "Wait for evaluation to complete"

                                 "(if not already completed)"

    ].

    ^ result

    "Created: / 04-10-2011 / 17:36:06 / cg"

! !

!Future methodsFor:'testing'!

hasValue

    ^ result notNil or:[semaphore wouldBlock not]

    "Modified: / 04-10-2011 / 17:29:36 / cg"

!

isLazyValue

    ^ result isNil and:[semaphore isNil or:[semaphore wouldBlock]]

! !

!Future class methodsFor:'documentation'!

version

!

version_CVS

! !