How do you use threads?

[zac352]

I just spent the last 1/2 hour googling a way to use io.stdin:read() without completely pausing your program. Coroutines don't work. Anyone know a workaround?

[Robin]

Threads?

But if you're using stdin, you're probably not using LÖVE anyway, right?

Anyway, reading from stdin is a blocking function, for good reasons. To disable the blocking, you need to do some deep, largely unportable magic,

[zac352]

Threads?

But if you're using stdin, you're probably not using LÖVE anyway, right?

Anyway, reading from stdin is a blocking function, for good reasons. To disable the blocking, you need to do some deep, largely unportable magic,

Awww...

[Robin]

If you really need it, and you're not using LÖVE, you could consider using Python, which has curses and termios in its standard library.

[zac352]

If you really need it, and you're not using LÖVE, you could consider using Python, which has curses and termios in its standard library.

I'm scared of whitespace. I don't see that working.

[Robin]

Then, my friend, you are doomed.
dooooomed.

[zac352]

Then, my friend, you are doomed.
dooooomed.

Can you give me an example of how to use the message system in threads? And do threads share _G?

Edit: No, they don't.

[Mud]

I just spent the last 1/2 hour googling a way to use io.stdin:read() without completely pausing your program.

Hmm... I was gonna say that this would be trivial to add via Lua's module system (literally 5 or 6 lines of C code), but Love appears to be statically linked to Lua and the API functions aren't exported, so this isn't really an option. Digging around on this site, this is all I was able to find on the subject (2008):

I made a decision (that can be easily changed) to incorporate Lua into EXE file, not to use it as DLL.

That pretty much kills extending Love dynamically. Which is ironic, because in the same post he says:

Because one of the problems of such kind of engines is that in non-trivial games there is always some non-standard functionality that is missing or too slow to be done in scripts. It would be nice to allow users to extend Love with plug-ins.

If Lua was still in a DLL/so, you could.

[Robin]

Can you give me an example of how to use the message system in threads? And do threads share _G?

Edit: No, they don't.

What, in LÖVE?

If Lua was still in a DLL/so, you could.

Except that it wouldn't be very portable, and your game wouldn't run in SELÖVE.

[bartbes]

I wonder how you guys fail to see it as easy as it is:

input.lua:

Code: Select all

local t = love.thread.getThread()
repeat
    local s = io.read()
    t:send("input", s)
until t:receive("quit")

main.lua:

Code: Select all

function love.load()
    t = love.thread.newThread("input", "input.lua")
    t:start()
end

function love.update(dt)
    local input = t:receive("input")
    if input then
        --input!
    end
end

That being said, I have no idea why you would want to do this.