From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2007-10-14T03:15:02+09:00
Subject: Re: Is there a standard pattern for threaded access to a file?

On 13.10.2007 17:52, Simon Kröger wrote:
> Eric I. schrieb:
>> That's a very nice solution.  It demonstrates a lot of accumulatd
>> wisdom.  I think I'd use a symbol in the queue, such as :end_of_data,
>> rather than the queue itself to mark the end of the data, if only to
>> avoid a "huh?" moment from those who read the code down the line.
> 
> I think there will be a big (and probably long) "huh?" moment when running the
> code:
> 
> threads.each do |th|
>   # send the terminator and wait
>   queue.enq queue
>   th.join
> end
> 
> is more likely than not to never terminate. If another thread than th is eating
> the terminator th.join will wait for a long time.

Of course you are right!  Normally I use two loops here - dunno why I 
suddenly though this was a great idea.  Thanks for catching that stupid 
error!

I also agree to Eric, that using something else is probably better 
because the code will be more readable.  I just wanted to demonstrate 
the point to not use a "regular" queue element.

Kind regards

	robert