Threads
Bigloo supports multithreaded programming. Two different libraries programming are available. The first one, the Fair Thread (see Section Fair Threads), enables, simple, easy to develop and to maintain code. The second one, the Posix Thread (see Section Posix Threads) enables more easily to take benefit of the actual parallelism that is now available on stock hardware. Because it is easier to program withfthread
than with pthread, we strongly recommend to use the former
as much as possible and leave the former for specially demanding
applications. Both libraries are described in this chapter.
Thread Common Functions
Bigloo implements SRFI-18 (Multithreading support). This SRFI is available at http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-18/srfi-18.html. As Bigloo's threads are objects (see Section Object System), the SRFI-18's thread specific functions can be used with either thepthread or the fthread library.
This section describes the functions that are available independently
of the multi-threading library.
Thread API
Bigloo uses a set of primitive functions and methods to create, run and handle thread. For the sake of standardization the name and semantic of SRFI-18 has been used. This section presents only the mandatory functions to program with threads in Bigloo. The most important difference with SRFI-18, is the missing of the functionmake-thread, which is not available for all libraries,
as it can be hard to predict the type of thread which will be created
if several thread libraries are used simultaneously. As threads are
regular Bigloo objects, they can be created using the
instantiate syntax. See the Fair Threads and Posix Threads
specific sections for more details about thread creation and
examples.
The examples given in this section use a generic
syntax with instantiate::thread, to run the examples, you will
have to put them in a function in a module (see Section Modules,
and import one of the libraries using library module
declaration.
current-threadSRFI-18 function
Returns the current thread..keep
thread? objSRFI-18 function
Returns#t if obj is a thread, otherwise returns #f.
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thread-name threadSRFI-18 function
Returns the name of the thread..keep
thread-specific threadSRFI-18 function
thread-specific-set! thread objSRFI-18 function
Returns and sets value in the specific field of the thread. If no value has been set,thread-specific returns an unspecified value.
(let ((t (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () (print (thread-specific (current-thread)))))))) (thread-specific-set! t 'foo) (thread-start! t)) ⇥ foo
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thread-cleanup threadBigloo function
thread-cleanup-set! thread funBigloo function
Associates a cleanup function to a thread. The cleanup function is called with the thread itself. The cleanup function is executed in a context wherecurrent-thread is the thread owning the
cleanup function.
(let ((t (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () 'done) 'foo)))) (thread-cleanup-set! t (lambda (v) (print (thread-name (current-thread)) ", exit value: " v))) (thread-start! t)) ⇥ foo, exit value: done
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thread-name threadBigloo function
thread-name-set! thread funBigloo function
Associates a name to a thread. If the platform does not support thread native name, the function is without effect.(let ((t (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () (print (thread-name (current-thread)))))))) (thread-name-set! t ``my-thread'') (thread-start! t)) ⇥ my-thread
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thread-parameter identBigloo function
thread-parameter-set! ident valueBigloo function
Returns the value of the parameter ident in the current thread. If no value is bound to this parameter,#f is returned.
A thread parameter is implemented by a chunk of memory specific to
each thread. All threads are created with an empty set of parameters.
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The next functions have different behaviors depending in the library
used, more details will be given in the specific sections below.
thread-start! thread [args]SRFI-18 function
thread-start-joinable! threadBigloo function
thread-join! thread [timeout]SRFI-18 function
thread-terminate! threadSRFI-18 function
thread-kill! thread signumSRFI-18 function
thread-yield!SRFI-18 function
thread-sleep! timeoutSRFI-18 function
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Mutexes
Thread locking mechanism is common to Fair Threads and Posix Threads.mutex? objSRFI-18 function
make-mutex [name]SRFI-18 function
make-spinlock [name]SRFI-18 function
mutex-name mutexSRFI-18 function
mutex-specific mutexSRFI-18 function
mutex-specific-set! mutex objSRFI-18 function
mutex-state mutexSRFI-18 function
mutex-lock! mutex [timeout [thread]]SRFI-18 function, deprecated
mutex-unlock! mutexSRFI-18 function, deprecated
The functionmake-spinlock creates a spin lock on architectures
on support it, otherwise it creates a regular mutex as if make-mutex
was called. The support for spin lock can be checked with:
bigloo-config 'have-spinlock
(let ((m (make-mutex))) (thread-start! (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () (let loop () (if (mutex-lock! m 0) (begin (display "locked") (mutex-unlock! m)) (begin (thread-yield!) (loop))))))))) ⇥ locked (let ((res '())) (define (mutex-lock-recursively! mutex) (if (eq? (mutex-state mutex) (current-thread)) (let ((n (mutex-specific mutex))) (mutex-specific-set! mutex (+ n 1))) (begin (mutex-lock! mutex) (mutex-specific-set! mutex 0)))) (define (mutex-unlock-recursively! mutex) (let ((n (mutex-specific mutex))) (if (= n 0) (mutex-unlock! mutex) (mutex-specific-set! mutex (- n 1))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () (let ((m (make-mutex))) (mutex-lock-recursively! m) (mutex-lock-recursively! m) (mutex-lock-recursively! m) (set! res (cons (mutex-specific m) res)) (mutex-unlock-recursively! m) (mutex-unlock-recursively! m) (mutex-unlock-recursively! m) (set! res (cons (mutex-specific m) res))))))) res) ⇒ (0 2)
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synchronize mutex exp1 exp2 ...Bigloo form
The function synchronize evaluates the expressions exp1, exp2, etc. The mutex mutex is acquired and released before exp1 gets evaluated. Its value is the value of the evaluated expression. The formsynchronize ensures that however the form
returns, the mutex mutex is always unlocked.
(synchronize mutex (print "before read...") (read p))
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with-lock mutex thunkBigloo function, deprecated
The formwith-lock is similar to synchronize into which it
is expanded.
The function with-lock evaluates the body of the thunk.
The mutex mutex is acquired and released before thunk gets invoked.
The function with-lock might be implemented as:
(define (with-lock mutex thunk) (synchronize mutex (thunk)))
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Condition Variables
condition-variable? objSRFI-18 function
make-condition-variable [name]SRFI-18 function
condition-variable-name cvSRFI-18 function
condition-variable-specific cvSRFI-18 function
condition-variable-specific-set! cv objSRFI-18 function
condition-variable-wait! cv mutex [timeout]Bigloo function
condition-variable-signal! cvSRFI-18 function
condition-variable-broadcast! cvSRFI-18 function
(let ((res 0)) (define (make-semaphore n) (vector n (make-mutex) (make-condition-variable))) (define (semaphore-wait! sema) (mutex-lock! (vector-ref sema 1)) (let ((n (vector-ref sema 0))) (if (> n 0) (begin (vector-set! sema 0 (- n 1)) (mutex-unlock! (vector-ref sema 1))) (begin (condition-variable-wait! (vector-ref sema 2) (vector-ref sema 1)) (mutex-unlock! (vector-ref sema 1)) (semaphore-wait! sema))))) (define (semaphore-signal-by! sema increment) (mutex-lock! (vector-ref sema 1)) (let ((n (+ (vector-ref sema 0) increment))) (vector-set! sema 0 n) (if (> n 0) (condition-variable-broadcast! (vector-ref sema 2))) (mutex-unlock! (vector-ref sema 1)))) (let ((sema (make-semaphore 10))) (let ((t1 (thread-start! (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () (semaphore-wait! sema) (set! res (current-time))))))) (t2 (thread-start! (instantiate::thread (body (lambda () (let loop ((n 10)) (if (> n 0) (begin (semaphore-signal-by! sema 1) (thread-yield!) (loop (- n 1))))))))))) (scheduler-start!) res))) ⇒ 2
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Threads
Bigloo supports fair threads (see Section Thread), a specification of cooperative threads. In this framework a thread must explicitly or implicitly yield the processor to the scheduler (see Section Scheduler). Explicit cooperation is achieved by library functions such asthread-yield! or
thread-sleep!. The scheduler does not preempt a running thread to
allocate the processor to another waiting thread. Fair threads have two
drawbacks over preemptive threads:
- Cooperative threads are not able to benefit of multi-processors platforms.
- Single threads programs must be adapted in order to be run concurrently.
- Fair threads have a strong and well defined semantic. Multi threaded programs using Fair threads are deterministic thus programs that deploy Fair threads are predictable.
- Fair threads are easier to program with because they hide most the of the concurrent programming pitfalls. In particular, since Fair threads enforce a strong synchronization, there is no need to deploy techniques such as mutex, semaphore or condition variables.
Introduction to Fair Threads
Fair threads are cooperative threads run by a fair scheduler which gives them equal access to the processor. Fair threads can communicate using broadcast events. Their semantics does not depends on the executing platform. Fine control over fair threads execution is possible allowing the programming of specific user-defined scheduling strategies. Contrary to standard sequential programming where the processor executes a single program, in concurrent programming the processor is a shared resource which is dispatched to several programs. The term concurrent is appropriate because programs can be seen as concurrently competing to gain access to the processor, in order to execute. Threads are a basic means for concurrent programming, and are widely used in operating systems. At language level, threads offer a way to structure programs by decomposing systems in several concurrent components; in this respect, threads are useful for modularity. However, threads are generally considered as low-level primitives leading to over-complex programming. Moreover, threads generally have loose semantics, in particular depending on the underlying executing platform; to give them a precise semantics is a difficult task, and this is a clearly identified problem to get portable code. Bigloo proposes a new framework with clear and simple semantics, and with an efficient implementation. In it, threads are called fair; basically a fair thread is a cooperative thread executed in a context in which all threads always have equal access to the processor. Fair threads have a deterministic semantics, relying on previous work belonging to the so-called reactive approach.Fair Threads Api
The Fair Thread library relies on the Posix Thread one, but you don't need to import thepthread library, as it is done automatically
when importing the fthread one.
The functions listed in Thread Common Functions can be used to
manipulates the Fair Thread, but thread-start-joinable!, as
a fair thread can always join any other fair thread in the same
scheduler.
Thread
instantiate::fthread (body thunk) [(name name)]Bigloo syntax
Returns a new thread which is not started yet. The body of the thread is the body of the procedure thunk. The optional argument name can be use to identify the thread. It can be any Bigloo value.(instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (print 1) (thread-yield!) (print 2))) (name 'my-thread))The former thread-start function can be rewritten as follow:
(define (make-thread body . name) (if (pair? name) (instantiate::fthread (body body) (name (car name))) (instantiate::fthread (body body))))
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thread-start! thread [scheduler]SRFI-18 function
Runs a thread created withmake-thread. If scheduler is
provided, the thread is started in this particular scheduler. Otherwise,
it is started in the current scheduler (see Section Scheduler).
Threads are started at the beginning of reactions
(see Section Scheduler).
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thread-yield!SRFI-18 function
The current thread cooperates. That is, it is suspended for the reaction and the scheduler selects a new thread to be resumed. The scheduler resumes the next avaliable thread. If there is only one thread started in the scheduler, the same thread is resumed. A reaction corresponds to the invocation of ascheduler-react!
call (see Section Scheduler).
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thread-sleep! timeoutSRFI-18 function
The current thread cooperates during exactly timeout reactions (see Scheduler). It is suspended and the scheduler selects a new thread to be resumed. If there is only one thread started in the scheduler, the same thread will be resumed.(let ((t1 (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 2) (display 'foo))))) (t2 (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop ((n 1)) (display n) (thread-yield!) (if (< n 5) (loop (+ n 1))))))))) (thread-start! t1) (thread-start! t2) (scheduler-start!)) ⇥ 12foo34
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thread-terminate! threadSRFI-18 function
Terminates thread at the end of the current reaction..keep
thread-join! thread [timeout [timeout-val]]SRFI-18 function
The current thread waits until thread terminates or until timeout is reached (when supplied). If the timeout is reached,thread-join! returns timeout-val. If thread
terminates, thread-join! returns the end-result of the thread
or the end-exception if that thread terminates abnormally.
If several threads wait for the termination of the same thread, they are
all notified of the termination during the current reaction.
(let* ((t1 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 3) 'foo))))) (t2 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (print "t1: " (thread-join! t1 1))))))) (t3 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (print "t2: " (thread-join! t1 2 'bar))))))) (t3 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (print "t3: " (thread-join! t1))))))) (t4 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (print "t4: " (thread-join! t1)))))))) (scheduler-start!)) ⇥ t1: #|%uncaught-exception [reason: (exception . join-timeout)]| t2: bar t3: foo t4: foo
thread-join! can be used to wait for a Posix Thread
termination. The pthread object must be started with
thread-start-joinable!.
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thread-suspend! threadBigloo function
thread-resume! threadBigloo function
Suspends/resumes the thread at the end of reaction. While suspended a thread is not eligible to get the processor by the scheduler..keep
thread-await! signal [timeout]Bigloo function
Blocks the thread until signal has been broadcast or until timeout has elapsed. The functionthread-await! returns
the value associated with the previous emissions of the signal that
took place during the reaction.
(let ((t1 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (display (thread-await! 'foo)) (display (thread-await! 'bar))))))) (t2 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (broadcast! 'foo 'val1-foo) (broadcast! 'foo 'val2-foo)))))) (t3 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 2) (broadcast! 'bar 'val-bar))))))) (let loop ((n 1)) (display n) (scheduler-react! (default-scheduler)) (loop (+ n 1)))) ⇥ 1val2-foo23val-bar456...The function
thread-await! cannot be used to intercept all the signals
broadcast during a reaction. This is illustrated by the following example
where obviously thread-await! cannot intercept the emission of the
signal:
(thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-await! 'foo) (broadcast! 'foo 1))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (broadcast! 'foo 2)))))
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thread-get-values! signalBigloo function
Terminates the instant for the thread (asthread-yield!) and
returns, hence at the next instant, all the values associated with
broadcast signal (see Section Signal) during the previous scheduler
reaction (see Section Scheduler).
Example:
(thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (for-each print (thread-get-values! 'foo)))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (broadcast! 'foo 1) (broadcast! 'foo 'foo) (broadcast! 'foo "blabla"))))) ⇥ 1 foo blablaExample:
(let ((t1 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (for-each print (thread-get-values! 'foo)))) (name 't1)))) (t2 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (broadcast! 'foo (current-thread)) (thread-yield!) ;; this second broadcast won't be intercepted ;; because it occurs during the next reaction (broadcast! 'foo (current-thread)))) (name 't2)))) (t3 (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (broadcast! 'foo (current-thread)) (broadcast! 'foo (current-thread)))) (name 't3))))) (scheduler-start!)) ⇥ #<thread:t2> #<thread:t3> #<thread:t3>
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thread-await-values! signal [timeout]Bigloo function
This blocks the current thread until signal has been broadcast. It then returns, at the next instant, all the values associated with all the broadcasts that took place during the instant. It can be defined as:(define (thread-await-values! signal . tmt) (apply thread-await! signal tmt) (thread-get-values signal))
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thread-await*! signals [timeout]Bigloo function
Wait for one of a list of signals. The functionthread-await*!
can be compared to the Unix select function. The argument
signals is a list of signal identifier. The function
thread-await*! blocks the current thread until one of the signal in
the list signals is broadcast or until the optional numerical argument
timeout is elapsed. If the thread unblocks because the timeout is
elapsed, thread-await*! returns #f. Otherwise it returns two
values that have to be collected with multiple-value-bind (see
Control Features). The first one is the value of the broadcast
signal. The second one is the broadcast signal.
Example:
(let ((res #f)) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let ((sig* (list 'foo 'bar))) (multiple-value-bind (val1 sig1) (thread-await*! sig*) (multiple-value-bind (val2 sig2) (thread-await*! sig*) (thread-yield!) (multiple-value-bind (val3 sig3) (thread-await*! sig*) (set! res (list sig1 sig2 sig3)))))))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 2) (broadcast! 'foo 1))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 3) (broadcast! 'bar 2))))) (scheduler-start!) res) ⇒ '(foo foo bar)A second example using timeouts:
(let ((res #f)) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let ((sig* (list 'foo 'bar))) (multiple-value-bind (val1 sig1) (thread-await*! sig* 1) (thread-yield!) (multiple-value-bind (val2 sig2) (thread-await*! sig* 1) (thread-yield!) (multiple-value-bind (val3 sig3) (thread-await*! sig* 2) (set! res (list sig1 sig2 sig3)))))))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 2) (broadcast! 'foo 1))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 3) (broadcast! 'bar 2))))) (scheduler-start!) res) ⇒ '(#f foo bar)
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thread-get-values*! signalsBigloo function
Terminates the instant for the thread (asthread-yield!) and
returns, hence at the next instant, all the values associated with
all broadcast signals (see Section Signal) during the previous
scheduler reaction (see Section Scheduler). The function
thread-get-values*! returns an alist made of the scanned signal
and their values. That is the length of the returns list is the length
of the list signals. If a signal of the list signals has not
been broadcast, its associated entry the list returned by
thread-get-values*! has an empty cdr.
Example:
(let ((s1 'foo) (s2 'bar) (s3 'gee) (res #f)) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 2) (broadcast! 'foo (current-time)) (broadcast! 'bar 0))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-await*! (list s1 s2 s3)) (set! res (thread-get-values*! (list s1 s2 s3))))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-sleep! 2) (broadcast! 'bar (current-time)))))) (scheduler-start!) res) ⇒ ((foo 3) (bar 3 0) (gee))Used with asynchronous signal, the functions
thread-await*! and
thread-get-values*! can be used to read concurrently, in a non
blocking way, several files.
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thread-await-values*! signals [timeout]Bigloo function
This blocks the current thread until at least one of signals has been broadcast. It then returns, at the next instant, all the values associated with all the broadcasts that took place during the instant. It can be defined as:(define (thread-await-values*! signal . tmt) (apply thread-await*! signal tmt) (thread-get-values*! signal))
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Scheduler
make-scheduler [strict-order?] [envs]Bigloo function
Creates a new scheduler. The optional boolean argumentstrict-order? is used to ask the scheduler to always schedule
the threads in the same order, it defaults to #f. The optional
arguments envs are fair thread environments which will be
defined in forthcoming Bigloo releases.
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scheduler-strict-order?Bigloo function
scheduler-strict-order?-set! boolBigloo function
Gets or sets the strict scheduling policy of the scheduler. If set, the threads will always be scheduled in the same order, until their termination. By default, it is set to false, which improve performances when there is a lot of thread to schedule..keep
scheduler? objBigloo function
Returns#t if obj is a scheduler. Otherwise returns #f.
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scheduler? objBigloo function
Returns#t if obj is a scheduler. Otherwise returns #f.
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current-schedulerBigloo function
Returns the current scheduler. The current scheduler is the scheduler which currently schedules the current thread. This value is not mutable, as it is set during the call tothread-start!.
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default-scheduler [scheduler]Bigloo function
Sets or gets the default scheduler. The default scheduler is the scheduler that will be used in the calls toscheduler-react!,
scheduler-start! or thread-start! if not specified.
It always exists a default scheduler. That is, it is optional for an
application to create a scheduler.
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scheduler-react! [scheduler]Bigloo function
Executes all the threads started (seethread-start!,
Section Thread) in the scheduler until all the threads are
blocked. A thread is blocked if the has explicitly yield the processor
(thread-yield! and thread-sleep!) or because it is waiting
a signal (thread-await!). A thread
can be selected several times during the same reaction.
The function scheduler-react! returns a symbol denoting the
state of the scheduler. The possible states are:
readyThe Scheduler is ready to execute some threads.doneAll the threads started in the scheduler have terminated.awaitAll the threads started in the scheduler are waiting for a signal.
scheduler-react! is called a reaction.
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scheduler-start! [arg [scheduler]]Bigloo function
Executesscheduler-react! as long as the scheduler is not done.
If the optional argument scheduler is not provided,
scheduler-start! uses the current scheduler
(see current-scheduler). The optional arg can either be:
- An integer standing for the number of times
scheduler-react! must be called.
- A procedure f of one argument. The procedure f is invoked after each reaction. It is passed a value i which is the iteration number of the scheduler. The reactions of the scheduler continue while f returns
#f.
(let* ((s (make-scheduler)) (t (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop ((n 0)) (display n) (thread-yield!) (loop (+ 1 n)))))))) (scheduler-start! 10 s)) ⇥ 0123456789 (let* ((s (make-scheduler)) (t (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop ((n 0)) (display n) (thread-yield!) (loop (+ 1 n)))))))) (scheduler-start! (lambda (i) (read-char)) s)) ⇥ 0123456789
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scheduler-terminate! [scheduler]Bigloo function
Terminates all the threads in scheduler..keep
scheduler-instant [scheduler]Bigloo function
Returns the current reaction number of scheduler. The reaction number is the number of timesscheduler-react! has been invoked
passing scheduler as argument.
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Signal
broadcast! signal [val]Bigloo function
Broadcasts signal to all threads started in scheduler immediately, that is during the reaction. This function can only be called from within a running thread. If the optional argument val is omitted, the signal is broadcast with an unspecified value.(thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (thread-await! 'foo) (print (scheduler-instant (current-scheduler))))))) (thread-start! (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (broadcast! 'foo))))) (scheduler-start!) ⇥ 1
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scheduler-broadcast! scheduler signal [val]Bigloo function
At the next react broadcasts signal to all threads started in scheduler. This is used to impact running threads from outside any threads. If the optional argument val is omitted, the signal is broadcast with an unspecified value..keep
make-asynchronous-signal procBigloo function
This function invokes in the background, the procedure proc. This function takes one parameter which is the signal that is broadcast when the invocation returns. When the host operating system supports parallel executions, the invocation of proc is executed in parallel with the waiting thread. Asynchronous signals can be used to implement non blocking system operations, such as input/output. Here is an example that illustrates how to implement concurrent programs that behaves similarly with Fair Threads and Posix Threads.(define-expander read (lambda (x e) (cond-expand (fthread (thread-await! (make-aynchronous-signal (lambda (s) (read ,@(map (lambda (x) (e x e)) (cdr x))))))) (else `(read ,@(map (lambda (x) (e x e)) (cdr x)))))))
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SRFI-18
This section presents the functions that are not necessary to Bigloo but supported for compliance with SRFI-18, provided by the Fair Thread library.current-time [scheduler]SRFI-18 function
Returns the reaction number of scheduler..keep
time? objSRFI-18 function
time->seconds objSRFI-18 function
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join-timeout-exception? objSRFI-18 function
abandoned-mutex-exception? objSRFI-18 function
terminated-thread-exception? objSRFI-18 function
uncaught-exception? objSRFI-18 function
uncaught-exception-reason excSRFI-18 function
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Posix Threads
This section describes two Posix-Like multi-threading Bigloo libraries. The two libraries,pthread, and srfi-18 are all the same
but the mutex-state function that returns different results.
Because of these differences that might seem thin at first glance,
the pthread library is significantly faster than the srfi-18
library. For that reason, it is recommended to use the pthread
library instead of the srfi-18 library that is mostly supported
for backward compatibility.
As much as possible, the names exported by this library are compatible
with the Fair Threads library (see Section Fair Threads).
Using Posix Threads
The Bigloo modules initialization model does not permit to create threads before the main function is started. In other words, it is unsafe to use the Posix Threads API at the top level of modules. On some particular applications this might work correctly. On other it could produce an error message stating the threads cannot be created or started before the pthread library is initialized.Threads
instantiate::pthread (body thunk) [(name name)]Bigloo syntax
make-thread thunk [name]SRFI-18 function
Returns a new thread which is not started yet. The body of the thread is the body of the procedure thunk. The optional argument name can be use to identify the thread. It can be any Bigloo value. Warning: themake-thread function is deprecated, but
still provided for a backward compatibility with previous release of
Bigloo. The use of this function is highly discouraged, in
favor of the instantiate::pthread form.
(module example (library pthread) (main main)) (define (main argv) (make-thread (lambda () (print 1) (thread-yield!) (print 2)) 'my-thread))
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thread-start! threadSRFI-18 function
thread-start-joinable! threadSRFI-18 function
Runs a thread created withinstantiate::pthread. By default,
threads are detached, and thus, they cannot be joined.
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thread-yield!SRFI-18 function
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thread-sleep! timeoutSRFI-18 function
The current thread sleeps for a certain period. It is suspended and the scheduler is free to select a new thread to be resumed. If there is only one thread started in the scheduler, the same thread will be resumed. The time of timeout is used to determine the time the thread must sleep. Here are the possible types for timeout.date: the thread sleeps at least until the date timeout.real: the thread sleeps at least timeout seconds.fixum,elong,llong: the thread sleeps at least timeout milli-seconds.
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thread-terminate! threadSRFI-18 function
Terminates thread as soon as possible..keep
thread-join! thread [timeout]SRFI-18 function
The current thread waits until the thread terminates. If thread terminates,thread-join! returns the end-result of the thread
or the end-exception if that thread terminates abnormally.
It is possible to wait for the termination of the a thread if and only if
it has been started with thread-start-joinable!. In particular,
threads started with thread-start! cannot be joined.
The optional argument timeout, forces to wait at for
timeout milli-seconds for the thread to terminate. Note that not
all systems support this facility. When supported, the
cond-expand (see see SRFIs) pthread-timedjoin is
defined. When the timeout expires some systems, raise an error. Other
systems abort silently.
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terminated-thread-exception? objSRFI-18 function
uncaught-exception? objSRFI-18 function
uncaught-exception-reason excSRFI-18 function
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Mutexes
Thread locking mechanism is common to Fair Threads and Posix Threads (see Thread Common Functions).mutex-state mutexSRFI-18 function
Returns the symbollocked when the mutex is locked by a thread.
Otherwise, it returns the symbol unlocked.
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Condition Variables
Posix thread condition variables follows the common thread API (see Thread Common Functions).(module example (library pthread) (main main)) (define (main argv) (let ((res #f) (lock (make-mutex)) (cv (make-condition-variable))) (thread-join! (thread-start-joinable! (instantiate::pthread (body (lambda () (mutex-lock! lock) (thread-start! (instantiate::pthread (body (lambda () (mutex-lock! lock) (condition-variable-signal! cv) (mutex-unlock! lock))))) (condition-variable-wait! cv lock) (set! res 23) (mutex-unlock! lock)))))) res))
Semaphores
open-semaphore name [create #t] [excl #t] [read #t] [write #t] [value 1]bigloo function
close-semaphore sembigloo function
delete-semaphore namebigloo function
Opens, closes, and deletes a named semaphore..keep
semaphore? objbigloo function
Returns#t if obj is a semaphore, returns #f otherwise.
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semaphore-post sembigloo function
semaphore-wait sembigloo function
semaphore-trywait sembigloo function
Wait and post for a semaphore..keep
semaphore-value sembigloo function
Returns the current value of the semaphoe.keep
SRFI-18
mutex-state mutexSRFI-18 function
Returns information about the state of the mutex. The possible results are:- thread T: the mutex is in the locked/owned state and thread T is the owner of the mutex
- symbol
not-owned: the mutex is in the locked/not-owned state - symbol
abandoned: the mutex is in the unlocked/abandoned state - symbol
not-abandoned: the mutex is in the unlocked/not-abandoned state
(mutex-state (make-mutex)) ⇒ not-abandoned (define (thread-alive? thread) (let ((mutex (make-mutex))) (mutex-lock! mutex #f thread) (let ((state (mutex-state mutex))) (mutex-unlock! mutex) ; avoid space leak (eq? state thread))))
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Mixing Thread APIs
The Fair Threads library is ``Posix Threads'' safe, which means it is possible to use at the same time both libraries. In other words, it is possible to embed one fair scheduler into a Posix thread. Here is a little example with two schedulers started into two different Posix threads, each schedulers running two fair threads.(module mix_threads (library fthread pthread) (main main)) (define *f1* 0) (define *f2* 0) (define (main args) (let ((s1 (make-scheduler #t)) (s2 (make-scheduler #t)) (f1a (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop () (print "f1a: " *f1* " " (current-thread)) (set! *f1* (+ 1 *f1*)) (thread-yield!) (loop)))))) (f1b (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop () (print "f1b: " *f1* " " (current-thread)) (set! *f1* (+ 1 *f1*)) (thread-yield!) (loop)))))) (f2a (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop () (print "f2a: " *f2* " " (current-thread)) (set! *f2* (+ 1 *f2*)) (thread-yield!) (loop)))))) (f2b (instantiate::fthread (body (lambda () (let loop () (print "f2b: " *f2* " " (current-thread)) (set! *f2* (+ 1 *f2*)) (thread-yield!) (loop))))))) (let* ((p1 (instantiate::pthread (body (lambda () ;; Sets the thread's specific scheduler (default-scheduler s1) (scheduler-start! 5))))) (p2 (instantiate::pthread (body (lambda () ;; Sets the thread's specific scheduler (default-scheduler s2) ;; One reaction for s2 (scheduler-react!) ;; Starts s1 (thread-start-joinable! p1) ;; Do three reactions (scheduler-start! 3) ;; Waits for p1/s1 termination (thread-join! p1) ;; The final reaction (scheduler-react!)))))) (thread-start! f1a s1) (thread-start! f1b s1) (thread-start! f2a s2) (thread-start! f2b s2) (thread-join! (thread-start-joinable! p2)))))