Re: [Caml-list] Re: async networking

[skaller <skaller@users.sourceforge.net>]

On Mon, 2006-02-06 at 19:34 +0100, Bardur Arantsson wrote:

> However, if you want very high-performance networking
> you'd be better off with something closer to the metal, i.e. something
> like a libevent wrapper 

Argg no. Libevent isn't a library, it doesn't control invert.
It is a monolithic framework. Therefore it is not very useful because
your code will no longer be composable. In particular,
there is no way to compose two such frameworks, for example
you cannot use it with an event driven GUI framework.

To quote the manpage:

"In order to process events, an application needs to call
event_dispatch(). This function only returns on error, and should
replace the event core of the application program."

Just try telling a GUI that *also* demands you use ITS 
event loop that!

The only proper way to use libevent would be to spawn the
dispatch loop inside a pthread, and use the hook functions
to communicate with your program via channels. It isn't
immediately clear this would work (libevent's single page
of documentation doesn't explain if it works when spawned
inside a pthread).

-- 
John Skaller <skaller at users dot sf dot net>
Felix, successor to C++: http://felix.sf.net