Newbie question about threads and gets

Ruby
1

Hi everyone…

I’ve a simple question - how can I write an application with two
threads, where first thread reads the user input. I want both threads to
run SIMULTANEOUSLY.
So … here is my code:

a=Thread.new do
$stdin.gets
end

b=Thread.new do
5.times do
print “b”
$stdout.flush
Thread.pass
end
end

a.join
b.join

Unfortunelty “gets” block my whole application - the “b” thread waits
until user writes something to the stdin. But I want the b thread not
wait and run at the same time.

Thanks
Jacek

2

From: “Jacek O.” [email protected]

b=Thread.new do
Unfortunelty “gets” block my whole application - the “b” thread waits
until user writes something to the stdin. But I want the b thread not
wait and run at the same time.

This tends to be a problem with Windows ruby. It seems unlikely to be
resolved until Ruby gets native threads (on the horizon with YARV.)

Here’s how I’ve worked around it. If anyone knows a better way, please
share:

if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /win32/
require ‘Win32API’
$win32_console_kbhit = Win32API.new(“msvcrt”, “_kbhit”, [], ‘I’)
def console_input_ready?
$win32_console_kbhit.call != 0
end
def nonblocking_stdin_gets
sleep(0.1) until console_input_ready?
$stdin.gets # don’t bother to use getc, it also blocks until user
hits
end
else
def nonblocking_stdin_gets
$stdin.gets # it just works, on unix
end
end

So you can use nonblocking_stdin_gets in place of $stdin.gets. It’s an
imperfect solution, though. It will be nonblocking until the user
starts
typing. Then it will block until they hit . (Note, I’ve tried
doing
it character-by-character, with $stdin.getc or $stdin.sysread(1), but it
still blocks until the user hits .) There’s probably a way to
put
the windows console into unbuffered mode, which would improve this
hack (so we could use $stdin.getc in conjunction with
console_input_ready?.)

Anyway, hope this helps . . .

Regards,

Bill

3

Jacek O. [email protected] wrote:

Unfortunelty “gets” block my whole application - the “b” thread waits
until user writes something to the stdin. But I want the b thread not
wait and run at the same time.

Thanks
Jacek

I’m not sure what you’re up to in the end but I’d start with commenting
Thread.pass. Ruby normally schedules threads automatically and thus you
usually don’t need Thread.pass. And btw, you can do $stdout.sync=true -
which removes the necessity of invoking flush.

Ah, and another note: the first thread blocks the whole app until you
enter
something simply because it’s joined on. The main thread won’t exit
until
you enter something.

HTH

robert
4

Bill K. wrote:

From: “Jacek O.” [email protected]

b=Thread.new do
Unfortunelty “gets” block my whole application - the “b” thread waits
until user writes something to the stdin. But I want the b thread not
wait and run at the same time.

This tends to be a problem with Windows ruby. It seems unlikely to be
resolved until Ruby gets native threads (on the horizon with YARV.)

Yes… I’m using winxp currently :frowning:

Here’s how I’ve worked around it. If anyone knows a better way, please
share:

if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /win32/
require ‘Win32API’
$win32_console_kbhit = Win32API.new(“msvcrt”, “_kbhit”, [], ‘I’)
def console_input_ready?
$win32_console_kbhit.call != 0
end
def nonblocking_stdin_gets
sleep(0.1) until console_input_ready?
$stdin.gets # don’t bother to use getc, it also blocks until user
hits
end
else
def nonblocking_stdin_gets
$stdin.gets # it just works, on unix
end
end

So you can use nonblocking_stdin_gets in place of $stdin.gets. It’s an
imperfect solution, though. It will be nonblocking until the user
starts
typing. Then it will block until they hit . (Note, I’ve tried
doing
it character-by-character, with $stdin.getc or $stdin.sysread(1), but it
still blocks until the user hits .) There’s probably a way to
put
the windows console into unbuffered mode, which would improve this
hack (so we could use $stdin.getc in conjunction with
console_input_ready?.)

Anyway, hope this helps . . .

Regards,

Bill

Thanks a lot Bill! Maybe it is not a perfect solution, but quite useful
for me at the moment :slight_smile:

P.S. I’m going to change my os till midnight :wink:

5

Jacek O. wrote:

Robert K. wrote:

Jacek O. [email protected] wrote:

Unfortunelty “gets” block my whole application - the “b” thread waits
until user writes something to the stdin. But I want the b thread not
wait and run at the same time.

Thanks
Jacek

I’m not sure what you’re up to in the end but I’d start with commenting
Thread.pass. Ruby normally schedules threads automatically and thus you
usually don’t need Thread.pass. And btw, you can do $stdout.sync=true -
which removes the necessity of invoking flush.

Ah, and another note: the first thread blocks the whole app until you
enter
something simply because it’s joined on. The main thread won’t exit
until
you enter something.

HTH

robert

First of all… thanks for help. I’ve set sync to true and remove
Thread.pass. (but as you said these things won’t fix the problem). So
I’ve removed a.join call and now everything works! (but wait a second

  • only on my newly installed linux :(, on windows works only with Bill
    solution)

I don’t know hot it is possible but this code works on windows too :

$stdout.sync=true

a=Thread.new do
50.times do
$stdin.gets
puts “==”+$aaa.to_s
end
end

b=Thread.new do
10000000000.times do |i|
$aaa=i
# Thread.pass - when uncomment this - works on linux only, when
comment this - works on windows only :slight_smile:
end

end

b.join

Thanks a lot once again!
Jacek

6

Robert K. wrote:

Jacek O. [email protected] wrote:

Unfortunelty “gets” block my whole application - the “b” thread waits
until user writes something to the stdin. But I want the b thread not
wait and run at the same time.

Thanks
Jacek

I’m not sure what you’re up to in the end but I’d start with commenting
Thread.pass. Ruby normally schedules threads automatically and thus you
usually don’t need Thread.pass. And btw, you can do $stdout.sync=true -
which removes the necessity of invoking flush.

Ah, and another note: the first thread blocks the whole app until you
enter
something simply because it’s joined on. The main thread won’t exit
until
you enter something.

HTH

robert

First of all… thanks for help. I’ve set sync to true and remove
Thread.pass. (but as you said these things won’t fix the problem). So
I’ve removed a.join call and now everything works! (but wait a second

  • only on my newly installed linux :(, on windows works only with Bill
    solution)

Regards
Jacek

7

Jacek O. wrote:

Jacek
until
with Bill solution)
end

b.join

Are you aware of the fact that ruby will exit as soon as the main thread
exits? So your difference might well be timing related.

10:58:20 [source]: ruby -e ‘Thread.new { sleep 1; puts “end” }’
10:59:22 [source]: ruby -e ‘Thread.new { sleep 1; puts “end” }; sleep 2’
end
10:59:28 [source]:

Notice how the first piece doesn’t print? That’s because the main
thread
simply exits killing the sleeping first thread.

Again, I don’t know what you’re up to so it’s difficult to provide
advice
how to do it right. In your simple example thread a is pointless IMHO -
you could do that as well in the main thread.

Cheers

robert
8

Robert K. wrote:

Jacek O. wrote:

Jacek
until
with Bill solution)
end

b.join

Are you aware of the fact that ruby will exit as soon as the main thread
exits?

Yes… I know…

So your difference might well be timing related.

10:58:20 [source]: ruby -e ‘Thread.new { sleep 1; puts “end” }’
10:59:22 [source]: ruby -e ‘Thread.new { sleep 1; puts “end” }; sleep 2’
end
10:59:28 [source]:

Notice how the first piece doesn’t print? That’s because the main
thread
simply exits killing the sleeping first thread.

Again, I don’t know what you’re up to so it’s difficult to provide
advice
how to do it right. In your simple example thread a is pointless IMHO -
you could do that as well in the main thread.

The problem is with windows - gets command blocks every thread in
application.
In my example the b thread is automatically started. In the same time in
a thread, gets command waits for user input. But in fact, on windows
platform gets command blocks everything, so nothing is done in “b”
thread. And I want to write an application which do something in the
background, and wait for user input at the same time (on windows it’s
currently impossible :frowning: )

Regards
Jacek