I'm writing a function, where I process a list using forM_
, and append the result to a TVar
list:
import Control.Concurrent.STM
import Control.Concurrent.STM.TVar
import Control.Concurrent (forkIO)
import Control.Monad (forM_)
insert :: a -> [a] -> [a]
insert = (:) -- stub
my_func_c :: (a -> a) -> [a] -> IO [a]
my_func_c my_function arr = do
res_var <- atomically $ newTVar ([]::[a])
forkIO $ forM_ arr $ \x -> atomically $ do
let y = id $! my_function x
modifyTVar res_var (insert y)
atomically $ readTVar res_var
The result is always empty, if I compile it with -threaded
. How is it possible to wait for the threads to finish? I can not use MVar
or Async
. I have to solve this problem using TVar
, or other data structures which are based on TVar
The idiomatic solution would be to use TMVar
s:
my_func_c :: (a -> a) -> [a] -> IO [a]
my_func_c my_function arr = do
res_var <- atomically $ newTVar []
finished <- atomically $ newEmptyTMVar
forkIO $ do
forM_ arr $ \x -> atomically $ do
let y = id $! my_function x
modifyTVar res_var (insert y)
atomically $ putTMVar finished ()
atomically $ takeTMVar finished >> readTVar res_var
but if you are really only allowed to use TVar
s, you can simulate a TMVar ()
with a TVar Bool
:
my_func_c :: (a -> a) -> [a] -> IO [a]
my_func_c my_function arr = do
res_var <- atomically $ newTVar []
finished <- atomically $ newTVar False
forkIO $ do
forM_ arr $ \x -> atomically $ do
let y = id $! my_function x
modifyTVar res_var (insert y)
atomically $ writeTVar finished True
atomically $ waitTVar finished >> readTVar res_var
waitTVar :: TVar Bool -> STM ()
waitTVar tv = do
finished <- readTVar tv
unless finished retry
Under the hood, TMVar a
is just a TVar (Maybe a)
(so TMVar ()
~ TVar (Maybe ())
~ TVar Bool
) with takeTMVar
doing a readTVar
and a retry
, so the above two solutions are operationally completely equivalent.