node-csp

Communicating sequential processes for node. Go style concurrency with channels.

WARNING: This package is at an experimental stage at the moment.

Requirements

This package requires ES6 generators which are switched on in node 0.11.6 through passing the -harmony flag to the node interpreter.

Install

$ npm i csp

Run

$ node -harmony <file>.js

Example

A simple example sending and receiving values on a channel between two routines.

var csp = require("csp");

var chan1 = new csp.Chan(); // Create an unbuffered channel.

csp.spawn(function* () {
  for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    console.log("put", i);
    yield chan1.put(i); // Send 'i' on channel 'chan1'.
  }
  yield chan1.put(null);
});

csp.spawn(function* () {
  for (;;) {
    var i = yield chan1.take(); // Take a value of 'chan1'.
    if (i === null) break; // Quit if we get 'null'.
    console.log("take", i);
  }
});

A more complex example setting up a daisy chained prime sieve.

// Concurrent prime sieve.
// http://golang.org/doc/play/sieve.go

var csp = require("csp");

// Send the sequence 2, 3, 4, ... to channel 'ch'.
var generate = function* (ch) {
  for (var i = 2;;i++) {
    yield ch.put(i); // Send 'i' to channel 'ch'.
  }
};


// Copy the values from channel 'inch' to channel 'outch',
// removing those divisible by 'prime'.
var filter = function* (inch, outch, prime) {
  for (;;) {
    var i = yield inch.take(); // Receive value from 'inch'.
    if (i % prime != 0) {
      yield outch.put(i); // Send 'i' to 'out'.
    }
  }
};

// The prime sieve: Daisy-chain Filter processes.
var main = function* () {
  var ch = new csp.Chan(); // Create a new channel.
  yield csp.spawn(generate, ch); // Launch Generate routine.
  for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    var prime = yield ch.take();
    console.log(prime);
    ch1 = new csp.Chan();
    yield csp.spawn(filter, ch, ch1, prime);
    ch = ch1;
  }
};

// Start the main routine.
csp.spawn(main);

Documentation

(yield) spawn(*gen, arg1 ... argN)

Create a new process from gen and pass arguments arg1 ... argN to it. If prefixed by yield the process will be managed by the outer process and will be destroyed when the outer process quits.

---

new Chan(size = 0)

Create a new channel with buffering size.

---

yield Chan.prototype.put(val)

Send val on the channel and depending on the channels buffering either block or move on.

---

yield Chan.prototype.take() = val

Block until a value is sent on the channel and return that value as val.

---

yield wait(ms)

Block for ms milliseconds.

---

yield select(chan1 ... chanN) = chan

Block until a value is sent on one of chan1 ... chanN and then return that channel as chan. Important to note that select does not issue a take on the channel, you have to do this yourself.

---

yield quit()

Forcefully quit the current process.

---

wrap(fn(arg1 ... argN, cb(err, val)))

Take a function that uses node's usual callback convention and return one that blocks until it is finished.

---

chanify(fn(arg1 ... argN, cb(err, val)), chan)

Take a function that uses node's usual callback convention and return one that sends a value on channel chan when it is finished.

Inspiration

• http://swannodette.github.io/2013/08/24/es6-generators-and-csp
• http://golang.org/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicating_sequential_processes