lang: New function engine

This mega patch primarily introduces a new function engine. The main
reasons for this new engine are:

1) Massively improved performance with lock-contended graphs.

Certain large function graphs could have very high lock-contention which
turned out to be much slower than I would have liked. This new algorithm
happens to be basically lock-free, so that's another helpful
improvement.

2) Glitch-free function graphs.

The function graphs could "glitch" (an FRP term) which could be
undesirable in theory. In practice this was never really an issue, and
I've not explicitly guaranteed that the new graphs are provably
glitch-free, but in practice things are a lot more consistent.

3) Simpler graph shape.

The new graphs don't require the private channels. This makes
understanding the graphs a lot easier.

4) Branched graphs only run half.

Previously we would run two pure side of an if statement, and while this
was mostly meant as an early experiment, it stayed in for far too long
and now was the right time to remove this. This also means our graphs
are much smaller and more efficient too.

Note that this changed the function API slightly. Everything has been
ported. It's possible that we introduce a new API in the future, but it
is unexpected to cause removal of the two current APIs.

In addition, we finally split out the "schedule" aspect from
world.schedule(). The "pick me" aspects now happen in a separate
resource, rather than as a yucky side-effect in the function. This also
lets us more precisely choose when we're scheduled, and we can observe
without being chosen too.

As usual many thanks to Sam for helping through some of the algorithmic
graph shape issues!
This commit is contained in:
James Shubin
2025-09-09 02:46:59 -04:00
parent 1e2db5b8c5
commit 790b7199ca
109 changed files with 3632 additions and 6904 deletions

View File

@@ -177,66 +177,69 @@ func (obj *FooFunc) Init(init *interfaces.Init) error {
}
```
### Call
Call is run when you want to return a new value from the function. It takes the
input arguments to the function.
#### Example
```golang
func (obj *FooFunc) Call(ctx context.Context, args []types.Value) (types.Value, error) {
return &types.StrValue{ // Our type system "str" (string) value.
V: strconv.FormatInt(args[0].Int(), 10), // a golang string
}, nil
}
```
### Stream
```golang
Stream(context.Context) error
```
`Stream` is where the real _work_ is done. This method is started by the
language function engine. It will run this function while simultaneously sending
it values on the `Input` channel. It will only send a complete set of input
values. You should send a value to the output channel when you have decided that
one should be produced. Make sure to only use input values of the expected type
as declared in the `Info` struct, and send values of the similarly declared
appropriate return type. Failure to do so will may result in a panic and
sadness. You must shutdown if the input context cancels. You must close the
`Output` channel if you are done generating new values and/or when you shutdown.
`Stream` is where any evented work is done. This method is started by the
function engine. It will run this function once. It should call the
`obj.init.Event()` method when it believes the function engine should run
`Call()` again.
Implementing this is not required if you don't have events.
If the `ctx` closes, you must shutdown as soon as possible.
#### Example
```golang
// Stream returns the single value that was generated and then closes.
// Stream starts a mainloop and runs Event when it's time to Call() again.
func (obj *FooFunc) Stream(ctx context.Context) error {
defer close(obj.init.Output) // the sender closes
var result string
ticker := time.NewTicker(time.Duration(1) * time.Second)
defer ticker.Stop()
// streams must generate an initial event on startup
// even though ticker will send one, we want to be faster to first event
startChan := make(chan struct{}) // start signal
close(startChan) // kick it off!
for {
select {
case input, ok := <-obj.init.Input:
if !ok {
return nil // can't output any more
}
case <-startChan:
startChan = nil // disable
ix := input.Struct()["a"].Int()
if ix < 0 {
return fmt.Errorf("we can't deal with negatives")
}
result = fmt.Sprintf("the input is: %d", ix)
case <-ticker.C: // received the timer event
// pass
case <-ctx.Done():
return nil
}
select {
case obj.init.Output <- &types.StrValue{
V: result,
}:
case <-ctx.Done():
return nil
if err := obj.init.Event(ctx); err != nil {
return err
}
}
}
```
As you can see, we read our inputs from the `input` channel, and write to the
`output` channel. Our code is careful to never block or deadlock, and can always
exit if a close signal is requested. It also cleans up after itself by closing
the `output` channel when it is done using it. This is done easily with `defer`.
If it notices that the `input` channel closes, then it knows that no more input
values are coming and it can consider shutting down early.
## Further considerations
There is some additional information that any function author will need to know.