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From: Hurd, Matthew (hurdm_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-02-23 23:43:37


> On Behalf Of Matthew Vogt
> Subject: [boost] Re: [Threads] Simple active object wrapper, take 2
>
> >Hurd, Matthew <hurdm <at> sig.com> writes:
>
> > Had a little thought that might be relevant. Please spank me if
this is
> > OT given the rather specific implementation I'm dropping in on...
> >
>
> Not at all. If this proves useful, I would certainly want to support
it.
>
> > As mentioned previously, future values could give you a lazy way of
> > evaluating the result, even when you aren't multithreaded.
> >
> > In the truly "active" object, that is, it has at least one thread,
you
> > could call the methods with a future instead of a normal value so
that
> > when the result arrives it percolates through the implied queue.
> >
> > Now for a new thought. What about using an expression template
> > mechanism so that when you combine futures they are glommed at
compile
> > time to remain lazy?
> >
> > boost::future<double> sum = some_thing_maybe_active.total();
> > boost::future<double> count = some_thing_maybe_active.count();
> > boost::future<double> average = sum / count;
> >
> > sum / count forms a lazy expression
> >
> > if a method groks a future and then this becomes interesting...
> >
> > boost::future<double> result =
> > some_thing_maybe_active.do_stuff(average);
> >
> > You can end up with the active object percolating all the way
through to
> > "result" without any blocking until the result of "result" is used.
> >
>
> Yes, certainly. I'm not au fait with expression templates, but you
could
> alternatively implement arithmetic operations in future<T> which
> maintained
> shared pointers to operands, and stored a function pointer to
std::plus,
> etc.

Expression templates are just a way of doing the kind of thing you have
just described at compile time. Here is a famous intro
http://www.adtmag.com/joop/crarticle.asp?ID=627 that I like anyway.

> > If you get rid of the thread(s) in the active object idea, you end
up
> > with a mechanism for lazy evaluation.
> >
>
> This I don't really follow. If you take away the thread from the
active
> object
> then the calling thread must perform the evaluation itself,
eventually.
> What
> you have left is equivalent to a sequence of boost::binds to a
standard
> function, haven't you?

No, it doesn't have to perform the operation, the future could simply
contain a boost::optional<value> with a boost::function callback, for
one example implementation, so the calc might not be done until it is
really needed...

I was thinking about this situation in terms of what it would take to
move this successfully to a single threaded (or passive object?) case
and the problem of messy dependencies that automagically resolve
themselves in the threaded active object sense might not have a
solution, or might have a less efficient solution, if laziness was not
the default behaviour. That is you could end up waiting on things that
haven't been kicked off and thus you deadlock without laziness.

> > Perhaps there is a more general mechanism / pattern and bike shop
name
> > lurking in this pattern...
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Matt Hurd
>
> Are you suggesting that the 'future' template is a convenient
syntactic
> sugar
> for lazy evaluation, as a separate concern to the threading involved?
If
> so,
> I can't disagree...
>
> Matt

Yup, laziness and possibly a neat way of keeping things architectural
neutral with appropriate policies.

Regards,

Matt Hurd
_______________________

Susquehanna Pacific P/L
hurdm_at_[hidden]
+61.2.8226.5029
_______________________

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