Ubuntu Manpage: tsv - Part of the Tcl threading extension allowing script level manipulation of data

NAME

       tsv  -  Part  of  the  Tcl  threading extension allowing script level manipulation of data
       shared between threads.

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require Thread  ?2.7?

       tsv::names ?pattern?

       tsv::object varname element

       tsv::set varname element ?value?

       tsv::get varname element ?namedvar?

       tsv::unset varname ?element?

       tsv::exists varname element

       tsv::pop varname element

       tsv::move varname oldname newname

       tsv::incr varname element ?count?

       tsv::append varname element value ?value ...?

       tsv::lock varname arg ?arg ...?

       tsv::lappend varname element value ?value ...?

       tsv::linsert varname element index value ?value ...?

       tsv::lreplace varname element first last ?value ...?

       tsv::llength varname element

       tsv::lindex varname element ?index?

       tsv::lrange varname element from to

       tsv::lsearch varname element ?options? pattern

       tsv::lset varname element index ?index ...? value

       tsv::lpop varname element ?index?

       tsv::lpush varname element ?index?

       tsv::array set varname list

       tsv::array get varname ?pattern?

       tsv::array names varname ?pattern?

       tsv::array size varname

       tsv::array reset varname list

       tsv::array bind varname handle

       tsv::array unbind varname

       tsv::array isbound varname

       tsv::keyldel varname keylist key

       tsv::keylget varname keylist key ?retvar?

       tsv::keylkeys varname keylist ?key?

       tsv::keylset varname keylist key value ?key value..?

_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       This section describes commands implementing thread shared  variables.   A  thread  shared
       variable  is  very  similar to a Tcl array but in contrast to a Tcl array it is created in
       shared memory and can be accessed from many threads at the same time. Important feature of
       thread  shared  variable  is  that each access to the variable is internaly protected by a
       mutex so script programmer does not have to take care about locking the variable himself.

       Thread shared variables are not bound to any thread explicitly. That  means  that  when  a
       thread  which  created  any  of thread shared variables exits, the variable and associated
       memory is not unset/reclaimed.  User has to explicitly unset the variable to  reclaim  the
       memory consumed by the variable.

ELEMENT COMMANDS

tsv::names ?pattern?
Returns names of shared variables matching optional ?pattern? or all known
variables if pattern is ommited.

tsv::object varname element
Creates object accessor command for the element in the shared variable varname.
Using this command, one can apply most of the other shared variable commands as
method functions of the element object command. The object command is automatically
deleted when the element which this command is pointing to is unset.
% tsv::set foo bar "A shared string"
% set string [tsv::object foo bar]
% $string append " appended"
=> A shared string appended

tsv::set varname element ?value?
Sets the value of the element in the shared variable varname to value and returns
the value to caller. The value may be ommited, in which case the command will
return the current value of the element. If the element cannot be found, error is
triggered.

tsv::get varname element ?namedvar?
Retrieves the value of the element from the shared variable varname. If the
optional argument namedvar is given, the value is stored in the named variable.
Return value of the command depends of the existence of the optional argument
namedvar. If the argument is ommited and the requested element cannot be found in
the shared array, the command triggers error. If, however, the optional argument is
given on the command line, the command returns true (1) if the element is found or
false (0) if the element is not found.

tsv::unset varname ?element?
Unsets the element from the shared variable varname. If the optional element is
not given, it deletes the variable.

tsv::exists varname element
Checks wether the element exists in the shared variable varname and returns true
(1) if it does or false (0) if it doesn't.

tsv::pop varname element
Returns value of the element in the shared variable varname and unsets the element,
all in one atomic operation.

tsv::move varname oldname newname
Renames the element oldname to the newname in the shared variable varname. This
effectively performs an get/unset/set sequence of operations but all in one atomic
step.

tsv::incr varname element ?count?
Similar to standard Tcl incr command but increments the value of the element in
shared variaboe varname instead of the Tcl variable.

tsv::append varname element value ?value ...?
Similar to standard Tcl append command but appends one or more values to the
element in shared variable varname instead of the Tcl variable.

tsv::lock varname arg ?arg ...?
This command concatenates passed arguments and evaluates the resulting script under
the internal mutex protection. During the script evaluation, the entire shared
variable is locked. For shared variable commands within the script, internal
locking is disabled so no deadlock can occur. It is also allowed to unset the
shared variable from within the script. The shared variable is automatically
created if it did not exists at the time of the first lock operation.
% tsv::lock foo {
tsv::lappend foo bar 1
tsv::lappend foo bar 2
puts stderr [tsv::set foo bar]
tsv::unset foo
}

LIST COMMANDS

Those command are similar to the equivalently named Tcl command. The difference is that
they operate on elements of shared arrays.

tsv::lappend varname element value ?value ...?
Similar to standard Tcl lappend command but appends one or more values to the
element in shared variable varname instead of the Tcl variable.

tsv::linsert varname element index value ?value ...?
Similar to standard Tcl linsert command but inserts one or more values at the index
list position in the element in the shared variable varname instead of the Tcl
variable.

tsv::lreplace varname element first last ?value ...?
Similar to standard Tcl lreplace command but replaces one or more values between
the first and last position in the element of the shared variable varname instead
of the Tcl variable.

tsv::llength varname element
Similar to standard Tcl llength command but returns length of the element in the
shared variable varname instead of the Tcl variable.

tsv::lindex varname element ?index?
Similar to standard Tcl lindex command but returns the value at the index list
position of the element from the shared variable varname instead of the Tcl
variable.

tsv::lrange varname element from to
Similar to standard Tcl lrange command but returns values between from and to list
positions from the element in the shared variable varname instead of the Tcl
variable.

tsv::lsearch varname element ?options? pattern
Similar to standard Tcl lsearch command but searches the element in the shared
variable varname instead of the Tcl variable.

tsv::lset varname element index ?index ...? value
Similar to standard Tcl lset command but sets the element in the shared variable
varname instead of the Tcl variable.

tsv::lpop varname element ?index?
Similar to the standard Tcl lindex command but in addition to returning, it also
splices the value out of the element from the shared variable varname in one atomic
operation. In contrast to the Tcl lindex command, this command returns no value to
the caller.

tsv::lpush varname element ?index?
This command performes the opposite of the tsv::lpop command. As its counterpart,
it returns no value to the caller.

ARRAY COMMANDS

This command supports most of the options of the standard Tcl array command. In addition
to those, it allows binding a shared variable to some persisten storage databases.
Currently the only persistent option supported is the famous GNU Gdbm database. This
option has to be selected during the package compilation time. The implementation provides
hooks for defining other persistency layers, if needed.

tsv::array set varname list
Does the same as standard Tcl array set.

tsv::array get varname ?pattern?
Does the same as standard Tcl array get.

tsv::array names varname ?pattern?
Does the same as standard Tcl array names.

tsv::array size varname
Does the same as standard Tcl array size.

tsv::array reset varname list
Does the same as standard Tcl array set but it clears the varname and sets new
values from the list atomically.

tsv::array bind varname handle
Binds the varname to the persistent storage handle. The format of the handle is
<handler>:<address>. For the built-in GNU Gdbm persistence layer, the format of the
handle is "gdbm:<path>" where <path> is the path to the Gdbm database file.

tsv::array unbind varname
Unbinds the shared array from its bound persistent storage.

tsv::array isbound varname
Returns true (1) if the shared varname is bound to some persistent storage or zero
(0) if not.

KEYED LIST COMMANDS

Keyed list commands are borrowed from the TclX package. Keyed lists provide a structured
data type built upon standard Tcl lists. This is a functionality similar to structs in the
C programming language.

A keyed list is a list in which each element contains a key and value pair. These element
pairs are stored as lists themselves, where the key is the first element of the list, and
the value is the second. The key-value pairs are referred to as fields. This is an
example of a keyed list:
{{NAME {Frank Zappa}} {JOB {musician and composer}}}
Fields may contain subfields; `.' is the separator character. Subfields are actually
fields where the value is another keyed list. Thus the following list has the top level
fields ID and NAME, and subfields NAME.FIRST and NAME.LAST:
{ID 106} {NAME {{FIRST Frank} {LAST Zappa}}}
There is no limit to the recursive depth of subfields, allowing one to build complex data
structures. Keyed lists are constructed and accessed via a number of commands. All keyed
list management commands take the name of the variable containing the keyed list as an
argument (i.e. passed by reference), rather than passing the list directly.

tsv::keyldel varname keylist key
Delete the field specified by key from the keyed list keylist in the shared
variable varname. This removes both the key and the value from the keyed list.

tsv::keylget varname keylist key ?retvar?
Return the value associated with key from the keyed list keylist in the shared
variable varname. If the optional retvar is not specified, then the value will be
returned as the result of the command. In this case, if key is not found in the
list, an error will result.

If retvar is specified and key is in the list, then the value is returned in the
variable retvar and the command returns 1 if the key was present within the list.
If key isn't in the list, the command will return 0, and retvar will be left
unchanged. If {} is specified for retvar, the value is not returned, allowing the
Tcl programmer to determine if a key is present in a keyed list without setting a
variable as a side-effect.

tsv::keylkeys varname keylist ?key?
Return the a list of the keys in the keyed list keylist in the shared variable
varname. If key is specified, then it is the name of a key field who's subfield
keys are to be retrieved.

tsv::keylset varname keylist key value ?key value..?
Set the value associated with key, in the keyed list keylist to value. If the
keylist does not exists, it is created. If key is not currently in the list, it
will be added. If it already exists, value replaces the existing value. Multiple
keywords and values may be specified, if desired.

DISCUSSION

       The  current  implementation  of  thread  shared  variables allows for easy and convenient
       access to data shared between different threads.  Internally, the data is  stored  in  Tcl
       objects  and all package commands operate on internal data representation, thus minimizing
       shimmering and improving performance. Special care has  been  taken  to  assure  that  all
       object data is properly locked and deep-copied when moving objects between threads.

       Due  to  the internal design of the Tcl core, there is no provision of full integration of
       shared variables within the Tcl syntax, unfortunately. All access to shared data  must  be
       performed  with  the  supplied package commands.  Also, variable traces are not supported.
       But even so, benefits of easy, simple and safe shared data manipulation outweights imposed
       limitations.

CREDITS

       Thread  shared  variables  are  inspired by the nsv interface found in AOLserver, a highly
       scalable Web server from America Online.

KEYWORDS

       locking, synchronization, thread shared data, threads