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1 | package Thread; |
2 | require Exporter; |
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3 | use XSLoader (); |
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4 | our($VERSION, @ISA, @EXPORT); |
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5 | |
6 | $VERSION = "1.0"; |
7 | |
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8 | @ISA = qw(Exporter); |
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9 | @EXPORT_OK = qw(yield cond_signal cond_broadcast cond_wait async); |
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10 | |
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11 | =head1 NAME |
12 | |
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13 | Thread - manipulate threads in Perl (EXPERIMENTAL, subject to change) |
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14 | |
15 | =head1 SYNOPSIS |
16 | |
17 | use Thread; |
18 | |
19 | my $t = new Thread \&start_sub, @start_args; |
20 | |
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21 | $result = $t->join; |
22 | $result = $t->eval; |
23 | $t->detach; |
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24 | |
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25 | if($t->equal($another_thread)) { |
26 | # ... |
27 | } |
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28 | |
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29 | my $tid = Thread->self->tid; |
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30 | my $tlist = Thread->list; |
31 | |
32 | lock($scalar); |
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33 | yield(); |
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34 | |
35 | use Thread 'async'; |
36 | |
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37 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
38 | |
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39 | WARNING: Threading is an experimental feature. Both the interface |
40 | and implementation are subject to change drastically. In fact, this |
41 | documentation describes the flavor of threads that was in version |
42 | 5.005. Perl 5.6.0 and later have the beginnings of support for |
43 | interpreter threads, which (when finished) is expected to be |
44 | significantly different from what is described here. The information |
45 | contained here may therefore soon be obsolete. Use at your own risk! |
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46 | |
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47 | The C<Thread> module provides multithreading support for perl. |
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48 | |
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49 | =head1 FUNCTIONS |
50 | |
51 | =over 8 |
52 | |
53 | =item new \&start_sub |
54 | |
55 | =item new \&start_sub, LIST |
56 | |
57 | C<new> starts a new thread of execution in the referenced subroutine. The |
58 | optional list is passed as parameters to the subroutine. Execution |
59 | continues in both the subroutine and the code after the C<new> call. |
60 | |
61 | C<new Thread> returns a thread object representing the newly created |
62 | thread. |
63 | |
64 | =item lock VARIABLE |
65 | |
66 | C<lock> places a lock on a variable until the lock goes out of scope. If |
67 | the variable is locked by another thread, the C<lock> call will block until |
68 | it's available. C<lock> is recursive, so multiple calls to C<lock> are |
69 | safe--the variable will remain locked until the outermost lock on the |
70 | variable goes out of scope. |
71 | |
72 | Locks on variables only affect C<lock> calls--they do I<not> affect normal |
73 | access to a variable. (Locks on subs are different, and covered in a bit) |
74 | If you really, I<really> want locks to block access, then go ahead and tie |
75 | them to something and manage this yourself. This is done on purpose. While |
76 | managing access to variables is a good thing, perl doesn't force you out of |
77 | its living room... |
78 | |
79 | If a container object, such as a hash or array, is locked, all the elements |
80 | of that container are not locked. For example, if a thread does a C<lock |
81 | @a>, any other thread doing a C<lock($a[12])> won't block. |
82 | |
83 | You may also C<lock> a sub, using C<lock &sub>. Any calls to that sub from |
84 | another thread will block until the lock is released. This behaviour is not |
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85 | equivalent to declaring the sub with the C<locked> attribute. The C<locked> |
86 | attribute serializes access to a subroutine, but allows different threads |
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87 | non-simultaneous access. C<lock &sub>, on the other hand, will not allow |
88 | I<any> other thread access for the duration of the lock. |
89 | |
90 | Finally, C<lock> will traverse up references exactly I<one> level. |
91 | C<lock(\$a)> is equivalent to C<lock($a)>, while C<lock(\\$a)> is not. |
92 | |
93 | =item async BLOCK; |
94 | |
95 | C<async> creates a thread to execute the block immediately following |
96 | it. This block is treated as an anonymous sub, and so must have a |
97 | semi-colon after the closing brace. Like C<new Thread>, C<async> returns a |
98 | thread object. |
99 | |
100 | =item Thread->self |
101 | |
102 | The C<Thread-E<gt>self> function returns a thread object that represents |
103 | the thread making the C<Thread-E<gt>self> call. |
104 | |
105 | =item Thread->list |
106 | |
107 | C<Thread-E<gt>list> returns a list of thread objects for all running and |
108 | finished but un-C<join>ed threads. |
109 | |
110 | =item cond_wait VARIABLE |
111 | |
112 | The C<cond_wait> function takes a B<locked> variable as a parameter, |
113 | unlocks the variable, and blocks until another thread does a C<cond_signal> |
114 | or C<cond_broadcast> for that same locked variable. The variable that |
115 | C<cond_wait> blocked on is relocked after the C<cond_wait> is satisfied. |
116 | If there are multiple threads C<cond_wait>ing on the same variable, all but |
117 | one will reblock waiting to reaquire the lock on the variable. (So if |
118 | you're only using C<cond_wait> for synchronization, give up the lock as |
119 | soon as possible) |
120 | |
121 | =item cond_signal VARIABLE |
122 | |
123 | The C<cond_signal> function takes a locked variable as a parameter and |
124 | unblocks one thread that's C<cond_wait>ing on that variable. If more than |
125 | one thread is blocked in a C<cond_wait> on that variable, only one (and |
126 | which one is indeterminate) will be unblocked. |
127 | |
128 | If there are no threads blocked in a C<cond_wait> on the variable, the |
129 | signal is discarded. |
130 | |
131 | =item cond_broadcast VARIABLE |
132 | |
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133 | The C<cond_broadcast> function works similarly to C<cond_signal>. |
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134 | C<cond_broadcast>, though, will unblock B<all> the threads that are blocked |
135 | in a C<cond_wait> on the locked variable, rather than only one. |
136 | |
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137 | =item yield |
138 | |
139 | The C<yield> function allows another thread to take control of the |
140 | CPU. The exact results are implementation-dependent. |
141 | |
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142 | =back |
143 | |
144 | =head1 METHODS |
145 | |
146 | =over 8 |
147 | |
148 | =item join |
149 | |
150 | C<join> waits for a thread to end and returns any values the thread exited |
151 | with. C<join> will block until the thread has ended, though it won't block |
152 | if the thread has already terminated. |
153 | |
154 | If the thread being C<join>ed C<die>d, the error it died with will be |
155 | returned at this time. If you don't want the thread performing the C<join> |
156 | to die as well, you should either wrap the C<join> in an C<eval> or use the |
157 | C<eval> thread method instead of C<join>. |
158 | |
159 | =item eval |
160 | |
161 | The C<eval> method wraps an C<eval> around a C<join>, and so waits for a |
162 | thread to exit, passing along any values the thread might have returned. |
163 | Errors, of course, get placed into C<$@>. |
164 | |
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165 | =item detach |
166 | |
167 | C<detach> tells a thread that it is never going to be joined i.e. |
168 | that all traces of its existence can be removed once it stops running. |
169 | Errors in detached threads will not be visible anywhere - if you want |
170 | to catch them, you should use $SIG{__DIE__} or something like that. |
171 | |
172 | =item equal |
173 | |
174 | C<equal> tests whether two thread objects represent the same thread and |
175 | returns true if they do. |
176 | |
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177 | =item tid |
178 | |
179 | The C<tid> method returns the tid of a thread. The tid is a monotonically |
180 | increasing integer assigned when a thread is created. The main thread of a |
181 | program will have a tid of zero, while subsequent threads will have tids |
182 | assigned starting with one. |
183 | |
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184 | =back |
185 | |
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186 | =head1 LIMITATIONS |
187 | |
188 | The sequence number used to assign tids is a simple integer, and no |
189 | checking is done to make sure the tid isn't currently in use. If a program |
190 | creates more than 2^32 - 1 threads in a single run, threads may be assigned |
191 | duplicate tids. This limitation may be lifted in a future version of Perl. |
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192 | |
193 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
194 | |
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195 | L<attributes>, L<Thread::Queue>, L<Thread::Semaphore>, L<Thread::Specific>. |
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196 | |
197 | =cut |
198 | |
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199 | # |
200 | # Methods |
201 | # |
202 | |
203 | # |
204 | # Exported functions |
205 | # |
206 | sub async (&) { |
207 | return new Thread $_[0]; |
208 | } |
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209 | |
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210 | sub eval { |
211 | return eval { shift->join; }; |
212 | } |
213 | |
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214 | XSLoader::load 'Thread'; |
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215 | |
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216 | 1; |