Timer Thread with passed Function* and Param - class

I'm working on finishing up my server for my first iPhone application, and I want to implement a simple little feature.
I would like to run a function (perhaps method as well), if another function returns a certain value after a certain waiting period. Fairly simple concept.... right?
Here's my basic foundation.
template <typename T,class TYP>
struct funcpar{
T (*function)(TYP);
TYP parameter;
funcpar(T (*func)(TYP),TYP param);
funcpar& operator=(const funcpar& fp);
};
The goal here is to be able to call funcpar::function(funcpar::parameter) to run the stored function and parameter, and not have to worry about anything else...
When I attempted to use a void* parameter instead of the template, I couldn't copy the memory as an object (because I didn't know what the end object was going to be, or the beginning for that matter) and when I tried multiple timers, every single object's parameter would change to the new parameter passed to the new timer... With the previous struct I have a
question:
Is it possible to make an all-inclusive pointer to this type of object inside a method of a class? Can I templatize a method, and not the whole class? Would it work exactly like a function template?
I have a managing class that holds a vector of these "jobs" and takes care of everything fairly well. I just don't know how to use a templatized function with the struct, or how to utilize templates on a single method in a class..
I'm also utilizing this in my custom simple threadpool, and that's working fairly well, and has the same problems...
I have another question:
Can I possibly store a function with a parameter before it's run? Something like toRun = dontrunmeyet(withThisParameter);? Is my struct even necessary?
Am I going about this whole thing incorrectly?
If this is overly ambiguous, I can set you up with my whole code for context

In order to create a class method that takes a template parameter, yes, it would work almost exactly like a function template. For example:
class A
{
public:
template<typename T>
void my_function(const T& value) { }
};
int main()
{
A test;
test.my_function(5);
return 0;
}
Secondly, for your structure, you can actually turn that into a functor-object that by overloading operator(), lets you call the structure as-if it were a function rather than having to actually call the specific function pointer members inside the structure. For instance, your structure could be re-written to look like this:
#include <iostream>
template <class ReturnType, class ParameterType>
class funcpar
{
private:
ReturnType (*function)(ParameterType);
ParameterType parameter;
public:
funcpar(ReturnType (*func)(ParameterType),ParameterType param):
function(func), parameter(param) {}
funcpar& operator=(const funcpar& fp);
//operator() overloaded to be a function that takes no arguments
//and returns type ReturnType
ReturnType operator() ()
{
return function(parameter);
}
};
int sample_func(int value)
{
return value + 1;
}
int main()
{
funcpar<int, int> test_functor(sample_func, 5);
//you can call any instance of funcpar just like a normal function
std::cout << test_functor() << std::endl;
return 0;
}
BTW, you do need the functor object (or your structure, etc.) in order to bind a dynamic parameter to a function before the function is called in C/C++ ... you can't "store" a parameter with an actual function. Binding a parameter to a function is actually called a closure, and in C/C++, creating a closure requires a structure/class or some type of associated data-structure you can use to bind a function with a specific parameter stored in memory that is used only for a specific instance of that function call.

Related

How to control argument passing policy in pybind11 wrapping of std::function?

I have a class in c++ that I'm wrapping into python with pybind11. That class has a std::function, and I'd like to control how the arguments to that function are dealt with (like return value policies). I just can't find the syntax or examples to do this...
class N {
public:
using CallbackType = std::function<void(const OtherClass*)>;
N(CallbackType callback): callback(callback) { }
CallbackType callback;
void doit() {
OtherClass * o = new OtherClass();
callback(o);
}
}
wrapped with
py::class_<OtherClass>(...standard stuff...);
py::class_<N>(m, "N")
.def(py::init<N::CallbackType>(),
py::arg("callback"));
I all works: I can do this in python:
def callback(o):
dosomethingwith(o)
k = N(callback)
, but I'd like to be able to control what happens when callback(o); is called - whether python then will take ownership of the wrapped o variable or not, basically.
I put a printout in the destructor of OtherClass, and as far as I can tell, it never gets called.
OK, I think I figured it out:
Instead of std::function, use a pybind11::function:
using CallbackType = pybind11::function
and then
void doit(const OtherClass &input) {
if (<I want to copy it>) {
callback(pybind11::cast(input, pybind11::return_value_policy::copy));
} else {
callback(pybind11::cast(input, pybind11::return_value_policy::reference));
}
}
I see nothing in pybind11/functional that allows you to change the ownership of the parameters at the point of call, as the struct func_wrapper used is function local, so can not be specialized. You could provide another wrapper yourself, but in the code you can't know whether the callback is a Python function or a bound C++ function (well, technically you can if that bound C++ function is bound by pybind11, but you can't know in general). If the function is C++, then changing Python ownership in the wrapper would be the wrong thing to do, as the temporary proxy may destroy the object even as its payload is stored by the C++ callback.
Do you have control over the implementation of class N? The reason is that by using std::shared_ptr all your ownership problems will automagically evaporate, regardless of whether the callback function is C++ or Python and whether it stores the argument or not. Would work like so, expanding on your example above:
#include <pybind11/pybind11.h>
#include <pybind11/functional.h>
namespace py = pybind11;
class OtherClass {};
class N {
public:
using CallbackType = std::function<void(const std::shared_ptr<OtherClass>&)>;
N(CallbackType callback): callback(callback) { }
CallbackType callback;
void doit() {
auto o = std::make_shared<OtherClass>();
callback(o);
}
};
PYBIND11_MODULE(example, m) {
py::class_<OtherClass, std::shared_ptr<OtherClass>>(m, "OtherClass");
py::class_<N>(m, "N")
.def(py::init<N::CallbackType>(), py::arg("callback"))
.def("doit", &N::doit);
}

AngelScript - Avoid implicit default constructor from running

I'm currently testing some simple AngelScript stuff, and noticed something I find a bit strange when it comes to how objects are initialized from classes.
Let's say I define a class like this:
class MyClass {
int i;
MyClass(int i) {
this.i = i;
}
}
I can create an object of this class by doing this:
MyClass obj = MyClass(5);
However it seems I can also create an object by doing this:
MyClass obj;
The problem here is that obj.i becomes a default value as it is undefined.
Additionally, adding a default constructor to my class and a print function call in each one reveals that when I do MyClass obj = MyClass(5); BOTH constructors are called, not just the one with the matching parameter. This seems risky to me, as it could initialize a lot of properties unnecessarily for this "ghost" instance.
I can avoid this double-initialization by using a handle, but this seems more like a work-around rather than a solution:
MyClass# obj = MyClass(5);
So my question sums up to:
Can I require a specific constructor to be called?
Can I prevent a default constructor from running?
What's the proper way to deal with required parameters when creating objects?
Mind that this is purely in the AngelScript script language, completely separate from the C++ code of the host application. The host is from 2010 and is not open-source, and my knowledge of their implementation is very limited, so if the issue lies there, I can't change it.
In order to declare class and send the value you choose to constructor try:
MyClass obj(5);
To prevent using default constructor create it and use:
.
MyClass()
{
abort("Trying to create uninitialized object of type that require init parameters");
}
or
{
exit(1);
}
or
{
assert(1>2,"Trying to create uninitialized object of type that require init parameters");
}
or
{
engine.Exit();
}
in case that any of those is working in you environment.
declaring the constructor as private seems not to work in AS, unlike other languages.

When does Chapel pass by reference and when by constant?

I am looking for examples of Chapel passing by reference. This example works but it seems like bad form since I am "returning" the input. Does this waste memory? Is there an explicit way to operate on a class?
class PowerPuffGirl {
var secretIngredients: [1..0] string;
}
var bubbles = new PowerPuffGirl();
bubbles.secretIngredients.push_back("sugar");
bubbles.secretIngredients.push_back("spice");
bubbles.secretIngredients.push_back("everything nice");
writeln(bubbles.secretIngredients);
proc kickAss(b: PowerPuffGirl) {
b.secretIngredients.push_back("Chemical X");
return b;
}
bubbles = kickAss(bubbles);
writeln(bubbles.secretIngredients);
And it produces the output
sugar spice everything nice
sugar spice everything nice Chemical X
What is the most efficient way to use a function to modify Bubbles?
Whether Chapel passes an argument by reference or not can be controlled by the argument intent. For example, integers normally pass by value but we can pass one by reference:
proc increment(ref x:int) { // 'ref' here is an argument intent
x += 1;
}
var x:int = 5;
increment(x);
writeln(x); // outputs 6
The way that a type passes when you don't specify an argument is known as the default intent. Chapel passes records, domains, and arrays by reference by default; but of these only arrays are modifiable inside the function. ( Records and domains pass by const ref - meaning they are passed by reference but that the function they are passed to cannot modify them. Arrays pass by ref or const ref depending upon what the function does with them - see array default intent ).
Now, to your question specifically, class instances pass by "value" by default, but Chapel considers the "value" of a class instance to be a pointer. That means that instead of allowing a field (say) to be mutated, passing a class instance by ref just means that it could be replaced with a different class instance. There isn't currently a way to say that a class instance's fields should not be modifiable in the function (other than making them to be explicitly immutable data types).
Given all of that, I don't see any inefficiencies with the code sample you provided in the question. In particular, here:
proc kickAss(b: PowerPuffGirl) {
b.secretIngredients.push_back("Chemical X");
return b;
}
the argument accepting b will receive a copy of the pointer to the instance and the return b will return a copy of that pointer. The contents of the instance (in particular the secretIngredients array) will remain stored where it was and won't be copied in the process.
One more thing:
This example works but it seems like bad form since I am "returning" the input.
As I said, this isn't really a problem for class instances or integers. What about an array?
proc identity(A) {
return A;
}
var A:[1..100] int;
writeln(identity(A));
In this example, the return A in identity() actually does cause a copy of the array to be made. That copy wasn't created when passing the array in to identity(), since the array was passed by with a const ref intent. But, since the function returns something "by value" that was a reference, it's necessary to copy it as part of returning. See also arrays return by value by default in the language evolution document.
In any case, if one wants to return an array by reference, it's possible to do so with the ref or const ref return intent, e.g.:
proc refIdentity(ref arg) ref {
return arg;
}
var B:[1..10] int;
writeln(refIdentity(B));
Now there is no copy of the array and everything is just referring to the same B.
Note though that it's currently possible to write programs that return a reference to a variable that no longer exists. The compiler includes some checking in that area but it's not complete. Hopefully improvements in that area are coming soon.

D: Delegates or callbacks?

I found conception of Delegates pretty hard for me. I really do not understand why I can't simply pass one function to another and need to wrap it to Delegate. I read in docs that there is some cases when I do not know it's name and Delegate is only way to call it.
But now I have trouble in understanding conception of callbacks. I tried to find more information, but I can't understand is it's simply call of other function or what is it.
Could you show examples of D callbacks and explain where they can be helpful?
import vibe.d;
shared static this()
{
auto settings = new HTTPServerSettings;
settings.port = 8080;
listenHTTP(settings, &handleRequest);
}
void handleRequest(HTTPServerRequest req,
HTTPServerResponse res)
{
if (req.path == "/")
res.writeBody("Hello, World!", "text/plain");
}
&handleRequest is it callback? How it's work and at what moment it's start?
So within memory a function is just a pile of bytes. Like an array, you can take a pointer to it. This is a function pointer. It has a type of RETT function(ARGST) in D. Where RETT is the return type and ARGST are the argument types. Of course attributes can be applied like any function declaration.
Now delegates are a function pointer with a context pointer. A context pointer can be anything from a single integer (argument), call frame (function inside of another) or lastly a class/struct.
A delegate is very similar to a function pointer type at RETT delegate(ARGST). They are not interchangeable, but you can turn a function pointer into a delegate pointer pretty easily.
The concept of a callback is to say, hey I know you will know about X so when that happens please tell me about X by calling this function/delegate.
To answer your question about &handleRequest, yes it is a callback.
You can pass functions to other functions to later be called.
void test(){}
void receiver(void function() fn){
// call it like a normal function with 'fn()'
// or pass it around, save it, or ignore it
}
// main
receiver(&test); // 'test' will be available as 'fn' in 'receiver'
You need to prepend the function name as argument with & to clarify you want to pass a function pointer. If you don't do that, it will instead call that function due to UFCS (calling without braces). It is not a delegate yet.
The function that receives your callable may do whatever it wants with it. A common example is in your question, a web service callback. First you tell the framework what should be done in case a request is received (by defining actions in a function and making that function available for the framework), and in your example enter a loop with listenHTTP which calls your code when it receives a request. If you want to read more on this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_(computing)#Event_handler
Delegates are function pointers with context information attached. Say you want to add handlers that act on other elements available in the current context. Like a button that turns an indicator red. Example:
class BuildGui {
Indicator indicator;
Button button;
this(){
... init
button.clickHandler({ // curly braces: implicit delegate in this case
indicator.color = "red"; // notice access of BuildGui member
});
button.clickHandler(&otherClickHandler); // methods of instances can be delegates too
}
void otherClickHandler(){
writeln("other click handler");
}
}
In this imaginary Button class all click handlers are saved to a list and called when it is clicked.
There were several questions in the OP. I am going to try to answer the following two:
Q: Could you show examples of D callbacks and explain where they can be helpful?
A: They are commonly used in all languages that support delegates (C# for an example) as event handlers. - You give a delegate to be called whenever an event is triggered. Languages that do not support delegates use either classes, or callback functions for this purpose. Example how to use callbacks in C++ using the FLTK 2.0 library: http://www.fltk.org/doc-2.0/html/group__example2.html. Delegates are perfect for this as they can directly access the context. When you use callbacks for this purpose you have to pass along all the objects you want to modify in the callback... Check the mentioned FLTK link as an example - there we have to pass a pointer to the fltk::Window object to the window_callback function in order to manipulate it. (The reason why FLTK does this is that back FLTK was born C++ did not have lambdas, otherwise they would use them instead of callbacks)
Example D use: http://dlang.org/phobos/std_signals.html
Q: Why I can't simply pass one function to another and need to wrap it to Delegate?
A: You do not have to wrap to delegates - it depends what you want to accomplish... Sometimes passing callbacks will just work for you. You can't access context in which you may want to call the callback, but delegates can. You can, however pass the context along (and that is what some C/C++ libraries do).
I think what you are asking is explained in the D language reference
Quote 1:
A function pointer can point to a static nested function
Quote 2:
A delegate can be set to a non-static nested function
Take a look at the last example in that section and notice how a delegate can be a method:
struct Foo
{
int a = 7;
int bar() { return a; }
}
int foo(int delegate() dg)
{
return dg() + 1;
}
void test()
{
int x = 27;
int abc() { return x; }
Foo f;
int i;
i = foo(&abc); // i is set to 28
i = foo(&f.bar); // i is set to 8
}
There are already excellent answers. I just want to try to make simple summary.
Simply: delegate allows you to use methods as callbacks.
In C, you do the same by explicitly passing the object (many times named context) as void* and cast it to (hopefully) right type:
void callback(void *context, ...) {
/* Do operations with context, which is usually a struct */
doSomething((struct DATA*)context, ...);
doSomethingElse((struct DATA*)context, ...);
}
In C++, you do the same when wanting to use method as callback. You make a function taking the object pointer explicitly as void*, cast it to (hopefully) right type, and call method:
void callback(void* object, ...) {
((MyObject*)object)->method(...);
}
Delegate makes this all implicitly.

struct vs class for writing D wrappers around foreign languages

(note: this is related to Usage preference between a struct and a class in D language but for a more specific use case)
When writing a D interface to, say, C++ code, SWIG and others do something like this:
class A{
private _A*ptr;//defined as extern(C) elsewhere
this(){ptr=_A_new();}//ditto
this(string s){ptr=_A_new(s);} //ditto
~this(){_A_delete(ptr);} //ditto
void fun(){_A_fun(ptr);}
}
Let's assume no inheritance is needed.
My question is: wouldn't it be preferable to use a struct instead of a class for this?
The pros being:
1) efficiency (stack allocation)
2) ease-of-use (no need to write new everywhere, eg: auto a=A(B(1),C(2)) vs auto a=new A(new B(1),new C(2)) )?
The cons being:
require additional field is_own to handle aliasing via postblit.
What would be the best way to do so?
Is there anything else to worry about?
Here's an attempt:
struct A{
private _A*ptr;
bool is_own;//required for postblit
static A opCall(){//cannot write this() for struct
A a;
a.ptr=_A_new();
a.is_own=true;
return a;
}
this(string s){ptr=_A_new(s); is_own=true;}
~this(){if(is_own) _A_delete(ptr);}
void fun(){_A_fun(ptr);}
this(this){//postblit;
//shallow copy: I don't want to call the C++ copy constructor (expensive or unknown semantics)
is_own=false; //to avoid _A_delete(ptr)
}
}
Note the postblit is necessary for cases when calling functions such as:
myfun(A a){}
I suggest that you read this page. The only functions on C++ classes that you can call in D are virtual functions. That means that
D can­not call C++ spe­cial mem­ber func­tions, and vice versa. These in­clude con­struc­tors, de­struc­tors, con­ver­sion op­er­a­tors, op­er­a­tor over­load­ing, and al­lo­ca­tors.
And when you declare a C++ class in D, you use an extern(C++) interface. So, your class/struct would look like this
extern(C++) interface A
{
void fun();
}
However, you'd need another extern(C++) function to allocate any objects of type A, since it's C++ code that has to do that as the D code doesn't have access to any of the constructors. You'd also need a way to pass it back to C++ code to be deleted when you're done with it.
Now, if you want to wrap that interface in a type which is going to call the extern(C++) function to construct it and the extern(C++) function to delete it (so that you don't have to worry about doing that manually), then whether you use a class or struct depends entirely on what you're trying to do with it.
A class would be a reference type, which mirrors what the C++ class actually is. So, passing it around would work without you having to do anything special. But if you wanted a guarantee that the wrapped C++ object was freed, you'd have to do so manually, because there's no guarantee that the D class' finalizer would ever be run (and presumably, that's where you'd put the code for calling the C++ function to delete the C++ object). You'd have to either use clear (which will actually be renamed to destroy in the next release of the compiler - dmd 2.060) to destroy the D object (i.e. call its finalizer and handle the destruction of any of its member variables which are value types), or you'd have to call a function on the D object which called the C++ function to delete the C++ object. e.g.
extern(C++) interface A
{
void fun();
}
extern(C++) A createA();
extern(C++) void deleteA(A a);
class Wrapper
{
public:
this()
{
_a = createA();
}
~this()
{
deleteA(_a);
}
auto opDispatch(string name, Args...)(Args args)
{
return mixin("_a." ~ name ~ "(args)");
}
private:
A _a;
}
void main()
{
auto wrapped = new Wrapper();
//do stuff...
//current
clear(wrapped);
//starting with dmd 2.060
//destroy(wrapped);
}
But that does have the downside that if you don't call clear/destroy, and the garbage collector never collects your wrapper object, deleteA will never be called on the C++ object. That may or may not matter. It depends on whether the C++ object really needs its destructor to be called before the program terminates or whether it can just let its memory return to the OS (without its destructor being called) when the program terminates if the GC never needs to collect the wrapper object.
If you want deterministic destruction, then you need a struct. That means that you'll need to worry about making the struct into a reference type. Otherwise, if it gets copied, when one of them is destroyed, the C++ object will be deleted, and the other struct will point to garbage (which it will then try and delete when it gets destroyed). To solve that, you could use std.typecons.RefCounted. Then you get something like
extern(C++) interface A
{
void fun();
}
extern(C++) A createA();
extern(C++) void deleteA(A a);
struct Wrapper
{
public:
static Wrapper opCall()
{
Wrapper retval;
retval._a = createA();
return retval;
}
~this()
{
if(_a !is null)
{
deleteA(_a);
_a = null;
}
}
auto opDispatch(string name, Args...)(Args args)
{
return mixin("_a." ~ name ~ "(args)");
}
private:
A _a;
}
void main()
{
auto wrapped = RefCounted!Wrapper();
//do stuff...
}
You could also define the wrapper so that it has the ref-counting logic in it and avoid RefCounted, but that would definitely be more complicated.
Regardless, I would definitely advise against your suggestion of using a bool to mark whether the wrapper owns the C++ object or not, because if the original wrapper object gets destroyed before all of the copies do, then your copies will point to garbage.
Another option if you did want the C++ object's copy constructor to be used (and therefore treat the C++ object as a value type) would be to add an extern(C++) function which took the C++ object and returned a copy of it and then use it in a postblit.
extern(C++) A copyA(A a);
this(this)
{
if(_a !is null)
_a = copyA(a);
}
Hopefully that makes things clear enough.