Python – 0x2B|~0x2B

Python 3.5 added native support for coroutines. Actually, there were several steps towards the current implementation. See Wikipedia, and it seems a bit messy to me:

Python 2.5 implements better support for coroutine-like functionality, based on extended generators (PEP 342).
Python 3.3 improves this ability, by supporting delegating to a subgenerator (PEP 380).
Python 3.4 introduces a comprehensive asynchronous I/O framework as standardized in PEP 3156, which includes coroutines that leverage subgenerator delegation.
Python 3.5 introduces explicit support for coroutines with async/await syntax (PEP 0492).

Before Python 2.5, there were only generators.

In Python 2.5, yield was refined to be an expression rather than a statement, which gave the possibility to implement a simple coroutine. But still a lot of work left for programmers to use it. For instance, a simple conroutine scheduler was required.

In Python 3.3, yield from was added to support subgenerators. Nothing to do with coroutines.

In Python 3.4, the Father of Python (Guido van Rossum) wrote a PEP himself to add an asyncio module to simplify coroutine usage in Python. An official scheduler was added. We can use @asyncio.coroutine to decorate a function. We can use yield from expressions to yield to a specific coroutine.

In Python 3.5, async/await syntax was added, borrowed from C#. The newest PEP made coroutines a native Python language feature, and clearly separated them from generators. A native coroutine now declares with async def syntax, and yield from is replaced with await expression. This removes generator/coroutine ambiguity. So in Python 3.5, coroutines used with asyncio may be implemented using the async def statement, or by using generators. Generator-based coroutines should be decorated with @asyncio.coroutine, although this is not strictly enforced. The decorator enables compatibility with async def coroutines, and also serves as documentation. See Python documents here.

The implementation can be found in this commit.

I wrote a echo server/client sample to try corutines. Server code first:

#!/usr/bin/python3
import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine
def start_server():
    yield from asyncio.start_server(client_connected_handler, '127.0.0.1', 2222)

@asyncio.coroutine
def client_connected_handler(client_reader, client_writer):
    peer = client_writer.get_extra_info('peername')
    print('Connected..%s:%s' % (peer[0], peer[1]))
    while True:
        data = yield from client_reader.read(1024)
        if not data:
            print('Disconnected..%s:%s\n' % (peer[0], peer[1]))
            break
        print(data.decode(), end='')
        client_writer.write(data)

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
server = loop.run_until_complete(start_server())
try:
    loop.run_forever()
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pass

server.close()
loop.run_until_complete(server.wait_closed())
loop.close()

#!/usr/bin/python3

import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine

def start_server():

yield from asyncio.start_server(client_connected_handler, '127.0.0.1', 2222)

@asyncio.coroutine

def client_connected_handler(client_reader, client_writer):

peer = client_writer.get_extra_info('peername')

print('Connected..%s:%s' % (peer[0], peer[1]))

while True:

data = yield from client_reader.read(1024)

if not data:

print('Disconnected..%s:%s\n' % (peer[0], peer[1]))

break

print(data.decode(), end='')

client_writer.write(data)

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()

server = loop.run_until_complete(start_server())

try:

loop.run_forever()

except KeyboardInterrupt:

pass

server.close()

loop.run_until_complete(server.wait_closed())

loop.close()

Client code here, or you can simply use telnet command:

#!/usr/bin/python3
import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine
def tcp_echo_client():
    reader, writer = yield from asyncio.open_connection('127.0.0.1', 2222)
    writer.write(b'first line\n')
    writer.write(b'second line\n')
    writer.write(b'third line\n')
    writer.write(b'EOF\n')
    print("Lines received..")
    while True:
        line = yield from reader.readline()
        if not line:
            break
        line = line.decode()
        print(line, end='')
        if line == 'EOF\n':
            break
    writer.close()

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
loop.run_until_complete(tcp_echo_client())
loop.close()

#!/usr/bin/python3

import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine

def tcp_echo_client():

reader, writer = yield from asyncio.open_connection('127.0.0.1', 2222)

writer.write(b'first line\n')

writer.write(b'second line\n')

writer.write(b'third line\n')

writer.write(b'EOF\n')

print("Lines received..")

while True:

line = yield from reader.readline()

if not line:

break

line = line.decode()

print(line, end='')

if line == 'EOF\n':

break

writer.close()

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()

loop.run_until_complete(tcp_echo_client())

loop.close()

Server output:

Connected..127.0.0.1:27643
first line
second line
third line
EOF
Disconnected..127.0.0.1:27643

Connected..127.0.0.1:27643

first line

second line

third line

EOF

Disconnected..127.0.0.1:27643

Client output:

Lines received..
first line
second line
third line
EOF

Lines received..

first line

second line

third line

EOF

With Python 3.5 on Ubuntu 16.04, we can also use async/await:

#!/usr/bin/python3
import asyncio

async def start_server():
    await asyncio.start_server(client_connected_handler, '127.0.0.1', 2222)

async def client_connected_handler(client_reader, client_writer):
    peer = client_writer.get_extra_info('peername')
    print('Connected..%s:%s' % (peer[0], peer[1]))
    while True:
        data = await client_reader.read(1024)
        if not data:
            print('Disconnected..%s:%s\n' % (peer[0], peer[1]))
            break
        print(data.decode(), end='')
        client_writer.write(data)

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
server = loop.run_until_complete(start_server())
try:
    loop.run_forever()
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pass

server.close()
loop.run_until_complete(server.wait_closed())
loop.close()

#!/usr/bin/python3

import asyncio

async def start_server():

await asyncio.start_server(client_connected_handler, '127.0.0.1', 2222)

async def client_connected_handler(client_reader, client_writer):

peer = client_writer.get_extra_info('peername')

print('Connected..%s:%s' % (peer[0], peer[1]))

while True:

data = await client_reader.read(1024)

if not data:

print('Disconnected..%s:%s\n' % (peer[0], peer[1]))

break

print(data.decode(), end='')

client_writer.write(data)

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()

server = loop.run_until_complete(start_server())

try:

loop.run_forever()

except KeyboardInterrupt:

pass

server.close()

loop.run_until_complete(server.wait_closed())

loop.close()

0x2B|~0x2B

My broken wings still strong enough to cross the ocean with.

Category: Python

Coroutines in Python