Concurrency helpers

Various concurrency related tools, including Lock and async stream additions etc.

To add to your project:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/ordo-one/package-concurrency-helpers", .upToNextMajor(from: "0.0.1")),
]

and then add the dependency to your target, e.g.:

.executableTarget(
  name: "MyExecutableTarget",
  dependencies: [
  .product(name: "SwiftConcurrencyHelpers", package: "package-concurrency-helpers")
]),

Helpers provided:

• Safely call a blocking function from an async context:

  let result = await forBlockingFunc {
      // Call your blocking function here.
  }
  

• Run async code in a non-async context:

  let result = runSync {
      await someFunction()
  }
  

• Simple locks, including a variant that sleeps while waiting for the lock:

  let lock = Lock()
  
  let result = lock.withLock {
      …
  }
  

  …and a variant that spins waiting for the lock:

  let lock = Spinlock()
  
  let result = lock.withLock {
      … // Make sure whatever you do here is quick; other threads may be busy waiting.
  }
  

• A simple thread-safe box for a value:

  let safeValue = Protected(myValue)
  
  safeValue.write {
      // Have exclusive access to the contents here.
      $0.someField = true
  }
  
  safeValue.read {
      // Have exclusive, read-only access to the contents here.
      if $0.someField {
          …
      }
  }
  

• An unsafe Sendable wrapper for value types:

  var someNonSendable = …
  
  let wrapper = UnsafeTransfer(someNonSendable)
  
  Task.detached {
      let value = wrapper.wrappedValue
      // Use `value` here, instead of the original name `someNonSendable`.
  }
  

  There is also an UnsafeMutableTransfer variant, for mutable values.

• Yield a value to an AsyncStream with back-pressure support (waiting in a Concurrency-safe way until the stream is ready to accept the message):

  guard yieldWithBackPressure(message: …, to: continuation) else {
      // Stream was closed or this task has been cancelled.
  }
  

• A simple reference-typed box for value types:

  let a = Box(5)
  let b = a
  
  b.value += 1
  
  // 'b' and 'a' both now hold 6.
  

  It inherits the Equatable, Comparable, CustomStringConvertible, and CustomDebugStringConvertible conformances of the contained type.

• Determine if a debugger is attached (a Swift version of Apple's C AmIBeingDebugged):

  if isBeingDebugged {
      // Running under, or attached by, a debugger of some kind.
  } else {
      // *Probably* not being debugged.
  }
  

  Note that this is not foolproof; debuggers can hide themselves from detection.

• A backport of Apple's AsyncStream.makeStream(of:bufferingPolicy:), to make it available in Swift 5.8 and earlier as well.

• Calculate the next highest power of two, above a given integer:

  let roundedUp = nearestPowerOf2(27)
  // 'roundedUp' is 32.
  

• Track the rate of an event, and run a closure every N events:

  let monitor = ProcessingRate(interval: 10)
  
  while true {
      monitor.checkpoint {
          // Runs every 10 calls to `checkpoint`.
          print("Current rate: \(monitor.ratePerSecond) Hz")
      }
  }
  

• Count events, then at designated checkpoints run a closure & reset the count if a set duration has passed since the last reset (or since the counter was created, if never before reset).

  let monitor = TimeIntervalCounter(clock: ContinuousClock(),
                                    timeInterval: .seconds(5))
  
  while true {
      if monitor.incremenet() {
          // It has been at least five seconds since the monitor was last reset.
      }
  
      monitor.checkpoint {
          // Runs at most once every five seconds.
          print("Current count: \(monitor.count)")
          // The count will automatically be reset to zero when this closure exits.
      }
  }