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

[Doug Currie <doug.currie@...>]

Tuesday, April 4, 2006, 11:24:39 AM, Javier Guerra wrote:

> it seems we all mostly agree on how the Lua API should look, but on the C side
> they're all too different.  Any serious proposal should specify a stable C
> API to write new libraries and make them work with the same Lua scheduler.

But does it need to be the *same* C API on all platforms? I don't see
why since, assuming I/O is involved, there will be separate
implementations for each platform anyway.

If the C API is the same on all platforms, it will need to be very
abstract, and very minimal.

Here's an example: HelperThreads has a queue-peek API. This is not
possible with IOCP on Windows (at least, I don't know how to do it
without polling and re-enqueuing which would break the FIFO
semantics).

Another example: IOCP AIO system I/O functions initiate I/O and
enqueue in the same system call. In HelperThreads this is two
operations.

On the other hand, there is no impediment to using threads with IOCP.
There is a enqueue-completion-status C API for IOCP, so a user thread
can interact with the same queue used by system i/o completion. So it
would be possible to build a Win32 library that used AIO system calls
where available, and user threads where not, while maintaining the
illusion of all AIO (just as HelperThreads does but with a stripped
down API).

Regards,

e

-- 
Doug Currie
Londonderry, NH