Add an example running Lwt and FIFOs in a single program

Author: polytypic

lib/picos_lwt/dune

@@ -11,3 +11,19 @@
 (documentation
  (package picos_lwt)
  (mld_files index))
+
+(mdx
+ (package picos_meta)
+ (enabled_if
+  (and
+   (>= %{ocaml_version} 5.0.0)
+   (<> %{os_type} Win32)))
+ (libraries
+  lwt.unix
+  picos_io.select
+  picos_lwt
+  picos_lwt.unix
+  picos_mux.fifo
+  picos_std.finally
+  picos_std.sync)
+ (files index.mld))

lib/picos_lwt/index.mld

@@ -3,7 +3,102 @@
 This package provides an alternative direct style interface to programming with
 Lwt via {!Picos}.
 
+{1 Libraries}
+
 {!modules:
   Picos_lwt
   Picos_lwt_unix
 }
+
+{1 Examples}
+
+Perhaps one of the main reasons someone might want to use a {!Picos} based
+direct style interface to programming with Lwt is for the purpose of working
+with an existing codebase and gradually porting the codebase to be effects based
+and to use an effects based scheduler.  So, as an example, let's construct a
+program that runs both Lwt and, in another domain, an effects based scheduler.
+
+As an aside, {!Picos} is specifically designed to allow an application to run
+multiple schedulers and for code running on those schedulers to be able to
+communicate and synchronize.  Specifically, {!Picos} is an interface to
+communicating with schedulers.  A concurrent abstraction implemented in terms of
+the {!Picos} interface automatically works with any {!Picos} compatible
+scheduler.  Furthermore, a correctly implemented scheduler allows certain
+operations, such as operations that cause fibers running on the scheduler to be
+resumed, to work across schedulers.
+
+For the example, we first open a couple of libraries:
+
+{[
+  # open Picos_std_finally (* let@, finally, lastly *)
+  # open Picos_std_sync (* Stream, Ivar *)
+]}
+
+{{!Picos_mux_fifo} The FIFO scheduler} we will use normally automatically checks
+that the {{!Picos_io_select} IO event loop library} it uses for timeouts has
+been configured.  However, as we will be spawning a new domain for the
+scheduler, we need to make sure to configure the IO library from the main thread
+of the application:
+
+{[
+  Picos_io_select.check_configured ()
+]}
+
+Below is our example program:
+
+{[
+  let main () =
+    let stream = Stream.create () in
+
+    let@ _ =
+      finally Domain.join @@ fun () ->
+      let cursor = Stream.tap stream in
+      Domain.spawn @@ fun () ->
+      Picos_mux_fifo.run @@ fun () ->
+      let rec loop cursor =
+        let ((who, out), cursor) =
+          Stream.read cursor
+        in
+        Printf.sprintf "Hello, %s!" who
+        |> Ivar.fill out;
+        loop cursor
+      in
+      try loop cursor with Exit -> ()
+    in
+
+    let@ _ = lastly @@ fun () ->
+      Stream.poison stream Exit
+    in
+
+    ["Mii"; "Uuu"]
+    |> List.iter (fun who ->
+       let reply = Ivar.create () in
+       Stream.push stream (who, reply);
+       Ivar.read reply
+       |> Lwt_io.printl
+       |> Picos_lwt.await);
+
+    Picos_lwt.await Lwt_io.(flush stdout)
+]}
+
+The above program first creates a stream for communication.  Then it spawns a
+domain for running the FIFO scheduler making sure that the domain will be joined
+and that a cursor to the stream is obtained before the rest of the program
+pushes messages to the stream.  The loop running on the FIFO scheduler reads
+messages from the stream and responds to them until the stream is poisoned.  The
+rest of the program runs on Lwt on the main thread.  It first makes sure to
+poison the stream at the end.  Then it runs a loop that sends a couple of
+messages to the stream, reads the responses, and prints them using Lwt.
+
+Finally we run the program with Lwt:
+
+{[
+  # Picos_lwt_unix.run_main main
+  Hello, Mii!
+  Hello, Uuu!
+  - : unit = ()
+]}
+
+Importantly, the above program shows that one can use communication and
+synchronization primitives like {{!Picos_std_sync.Stream} [Stream]} and
+{{!Picos_std_sync.Ivar} [Ivar]} across schedulers.