I would like to create either a Thread or a Process which runs forever in a While True loop.
I need to send and receive data to the worker in the form for queues, either a multiprocessing.Queue() or a collections.deque(). I prefer to use collections.deque() as it is significantly faster.
I also need to be able to kill the worker eventually (as it runs in a while True loop. Here is some test code I've put together to try and understand the differences between Threads, Processes, Queues, and deque ..
import time
from multiprocessing import Process, Queue
from threading import Thread
from collections import deque
class ThreadingTest(Thread):
def __init__(self, q):
super(ThreadingTest, self).__init__()
self.q = q
self.toRun = False
def run(self):
print("Started Thread")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if type(self.q) == type(deque()):
if self.q:
i = self.q.popleft()
print("Thread deque: " + str(i))
elif type(self.q) == type(Queue()):
if not self.q.empty():
i = self.q.get_nowait()
print("Thread Queue: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Thread")
self.toRun = False
while self.isAlive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Thread")
class ProcessTest(Process):
def __init__(self, q):
super(ProcessTest, self).__init__()
self.q = q
self.toRun = False
self.ctr = 0
def run(self):
print("Started Process")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if type(self.q) == type(deque()):
if self.q:
i = self.q.popleft()
print("Process deque: " + str(i))
elif type(self.q) == type(Queue()):
if not self.q.empty():
i = self.q.get_nowait()
print("Process Queue: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Process")
self.toRun = False
while self.is_alive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Process")
if __name__ == '__main__':
q = Queue()
t1 = ProcessTest(q)
t1.start()
for i in range(10):
if type(q) == type(deque()):
q.append(i)
elif type(q) == type(Queue()):
q.put_nowait(i)
time.sleep(1)
t1.stop()
t1.join()
if type(q) == type(deque()):
print(q)
elif type(q) == type(Queue()):
while q.qsize() > 0:
print(str(q.get_nowait()))
As you can see, t1 can either be ThreadingTest, or ProcessTest. Also, the queue passed to it can either be a multiprocessing.Queue or a collections.deque.
ThreadingTest works with a Queue or deque(). It also kills run() properly when the stop() method is called.
Started Thread
Thread deque: 0
Thread deque: 1
Thread deque: 2
Thread deque: 3
Thread deque: 4
Thread deque: 5
Thread deque: 6
Thread deque: 7
Thread deque: 8
Thread deque: 9
Trying to stop Thread
Stopped Thread
deque([])
ProcessTest is only able to read from the queue if it is of type multiprocessing.Queue. It doesn't work with collections.deque. Furthermore, I am unable to kill the process using stop().
Process Queue: 0
Process Queue: 1
Process Queue: 2
Process Queue: 3
Process Queue: 4
Process Queue: 5
Process Queue: 6
Process Queue: 7
Process Queue: 8
Process Queue: 9
Trying to stop Process
I'm trying to figure out why? Also, what would be the best way to use deque with a process? And, how would I go about killing the process using some sort of stop() method.
You can't use a collections.deque
to pass data between two multiprocessing.Process
instances, because collections.deque
is not process-aware. multiprocessing.Queue
writes its contents to a multiprocessing.Pipe
internally, which means that data in it can be enqueued in once process and retrieved in another. collections.deque
doesn't have that kind of plumbing, so it won't work. When you write to the deque
in one process, the deque
instance in the other process won't be affected at all; they're completely separate instances.
A similar issue is happening to your stop()
method. You're changing the value of toRun
in the main process, but this won't affect the child at all. They're completely separate instances. The best way to end the child would be to send some sentinel to the Queue
. When you get the sentinel in the child, break out of the infinite loop:
def run(self):
print("Started Process")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if type(self.q) == type(deque()):
if self.q:
i = self.q.popleft()
print("Process deque: " + str(i))
elif type(self.q) == type(Queue()):
if not self.q.empty():
i = self.q.get_nowait()
if i is None:
break # Got sentinel, so break
print("Process Queue: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Process")
self.q.put(None) # Send sentinel
while self.is_alive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Process")
Edit:
If you actually do need deque
semantics between two process, you can use a custom multiprocessing.Manager()
to create a shared deque
in a Manager
process, and each of your Process
instances will get a Proxy
to it:
import time
from multiprocessing import Process
from multiprocessing.managers import SyncManager
from collections import deque
SyncManager.register('deque', deque)
def Manager():
m = SyncManager()
m.start()
return m
class ProcessTest(Process):
def __init__(self, q):
super(ProcessTest, self).__init__()
self.q = q
self.ctr = 0
def run(self):
print("Started Process")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if self.q._getvalue():
i = self.q.popleft()
if i is None:
break
print("Process deque: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Process")
self.q.append(None)
while self.is_alive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Process")
if __name__ == '__main__':
m = Manager()
q = m.deque()
t1 = ProcessTest(q)
t1.start()
for i in range(10):
q.append(i)
time.sleep(1)
t1.stop()
t1.join()
print(q)
Note that this probably isn't going to be faster than a multiprocessing.Queue
, though, since there's an IPC cost for every time you access the deque
. It's also a much less natural data structure for passing messages the way you are.