Coroutines

Coroutines are the fundamental building block of Felix. Your mainline program is actually a coroutine!

// schannels for communication
var inp, out = mk_ioschannel_pair[int]();

// writer fibre
spawn_fthread {
  for i in 1..10 do
    println$ "Sending " + i.str;
    write (out,i);
  done
};

// reader fibre
spawn_fthread {
  while true do
    var x = read inp;
    println$ "Read " + x.str;
  done
};

In this simple example, the mk_ioschannel_pair function is used to construct a synchronous channel object, and returns two references to it, inp which is typed to allow reading, and out which is typed to allow writing.

Then we use the spawn_fthread to construct fibres from argument coroutines. A coroutine in Felix is just a procedure. No wait! Actually .. a procedure is just a coroutine!

A single pre-emptive thread of control can be woven from many strands called fibres. In Felix the kind of fibres we make are called fthreads, whereas the pre-emptive kind are called pthreads.

Our writer coroutine is a loop which writes 10 integers down the channel. Our reader coroutine is an infinite loop, which reads integers until there are none to read. We use debugging prints to witness the activity.

Fibres do not run concurrently or asynchronously! Fibration is a non-deterministic method for interleaving control and is entirely synchronous. In particular schannels do not provide any buffering, their primary function is to mediate control interleaving.

Suppose our writer starts first. When it reaches the write statement it is suspended. Then our reader starts up and runs until it reaches the read operation. Then it also suspends.

Now, the scheduler copies the integer from the reader to the writer, places both on the list of active fibres, and then picks a fibre to run, which it does by unfreezing or resuming the suspension.