NAME Coro - coroutine process abstraction SYNOPSIS use Coro; async { # some asynchronous thread of execution }; # alternatively create an async process like this: sub some_func : Coro { # some more async code } yield; DESCRIPTION This module collection manages coroutines. Coroutines are similar to Threads but don't run in parallel. This module is still experimental, see the BUGS section below. $main This coroutine represents the main program. $current The current coroutine (the last coroutine switched to). The initial value is $main (of course). $idle The coroutine to switch to when no other coroutine is running. The default implementation prints "FATAL: deadlock detected" and exits. STATIC METHODS Static methods are actually functions that operate on the current process only. async { ... } [@args...] Create a new asynchronous process and return it's process object (usually unused). When the sub returns the new process is automatically terminated. # create a new coroutine that just prints its arguments async { print "@_\n"; } 1,2,3,4; The coderef you submit MUST NOT be a closure that refers to variables in an outer scope. This does NOT work. Pass arguments into it instead. schedule Calls the scheduler. Please note that the current process will not be put into the ready queue, so calling this function usually means you will never be called again. yield Yield to other processes. This function puts the current process into the ready queue and calls "schedule". terminate Terminates the current process. Future versions of this function will allow result arguments. # dynamic methods PROCESS METHODS These are the methods you can call on process objects. new Coro \&sub [, @args...] Create a new process and return it. When the sub returns the process automatically terminates. To start the process you must first put it into the ready queue by calling the ready method. The coderef you submit MUST NOT be a closure that refers to variables in an outer scope. This does NOT work. Pass arguments into it instead. $process->ready Put the current process into the ready queue. BUGS - could be faster, especially when the core would introduce special support for coroutines (like it does for threads). - there is still a memleak on coroutine termination that I could not identify. Could be as small as a single SV. - this module is not well-tested. SEE ALSO the Coro::Channel manpage, the Coro::Cont manpage, the Coro::Specific manpage, the Coro::Semaphore manpage, the Coro::Signal manpage, the Coro::State manpage, the Coro::Event manpage. AUTHOR Marc Lehmann http://www.goof.com/pcg/marc/