Subject: [boost] [async] messages threads and networks
From: Scott Woods (scott_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-04-23 20:26:48
Hi Boost,
Is anyone interested in a framework for asynchronous programming? This is
based on the
thinking contained in;
* SDL (http://www.sdl-forum.org/SDL/index.htm)
* Active Objects (http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/PDF/Act-Obj.pdf)
SDL is the ITU standard for specification of signaling systems. AO is a
pattern for concurrent programming. These have been combined to create an
environment where objects exchange
messages, possibly between threads or even over networks. Objects are
created simply;
id = create<object_type>();
and once created, anything can be sent to it;
send( anything, id );
The framework takes care of threading, network addresses, queueing, encoding
and optimal I/O, as appropriate. Threads are equally simple to create;
p = start<message_processor>();
and objects can be assigned to specific threads at creation time;
id2 = create<object_type>( p );
A network server can be created as simply as;
listen = create<socket_listen>();
server = create<socket_server<my_server> >();
service operational( "loopback:5500", server );
send( operational, listen );
Connecting is equally simple;
connect = create<socket_connect>();
client = create<my_client>();
service operational( "localhost:5500", client );
send( operational, connect );
>From that point on, client and server can exchange messages
using the send primitive without any knowledge that messages are
actually travelling across a network. There is in fact no difference
between inter-thread messaging and inter-processes (i.e. for the
application).
Feel free to poke around in the software at;
http://groups.google.co.nz/group/pact-serialization/web
I am interested in a Boost review of this library but suspect it is
too large. It also overlaps with several existing boost components.
But good to get further opinions.
Cheers,
Scott