Re: LibEvent binding to Lua? Mix w/ HelperThreads?

[Adrian Sietsma <adrian_groups@...>]

From a Lua pov., what I would like to be able to do in an async io world is 
either this:

s,err = wait_read(object,size,timeout) -- yields to the scheduler until data 
available or timeout
...
wait_event(object,timeout) -- yields to the scheduler until event or timeout


or (contract approach)
token=read(object,size)
...
...
s, err = get_data(token)-- return any data so far
...
...
wait_for_completion(token,timeout) -- yields
s,err = get_data(token)

The first approach can be implemented using either select or overlapped io 
(I have implemented it using LuaSocket);  from the Lua side, the thread just 
"sleeps" until data is there.

My current project uses an event iterator that returns triggered events 
(socket/timer/user) when called (again using LuaSocket); and a coroutine 
dispatcher that associates event with coroutines, and resumes the 
appropriate coro for the event. This approach could easily be integrated 
with overlapped io.

Anyway, as I see it there are 3 basic actions:
1/ Initiate a request
2/ Check (poll) the status/results of a request.
3/ Wait for a request to be fulfilled.

3 requires some sort of sheduler, although that can be based on
3a/ Wait for the next outstanding request to be fulfilled.

Any higher-level interface can be built from these primitives.

I see no alternative to different implementations for *nix and windows, but 
it would be nice to have an abstraction/interface built around the Lua usage 
requirements, not the os primitives.

Adrian