Concurrent.js is a library that enables non-blocking computation on JavaScript RTEs by dynamically loading a module into a background thread.

Features

Sharing workers
Parallel execution
Reactive concurrency
Isolation

Technical Facts

Built upon web workers (a.k.a. worker threads).
Simplifies the complexity of worker usage by providing a minimal API.
Automatically creates and terminates workers.
Automatically cleans up a worker's memory.
Has no third-party runtime dependency.
Written in TypeScript with the strictest ESNext config.
Strictly designed to support strongly-typed programming.
Packaged as platform-specific bundles that target ES2020.

Hello World!

Save and run the hello world script to see Concurrent.js in action:

bash hello_world.sh

Installation

npm i @bitair/concurrent.js

Usage

At its highest level of design, Concurrent.js is a dynamic module importer that loads a module into a web worker:

import { concurrent } from '@bitair/concurrent.js'
// In Deno
// import { concurrent } from 'https://deno.land/x/concurrentjs@v0.9.0/mod.ts'
// Import a module
const MyModule = concurrent.import(new URL('./sample_module.js', import.meta.url))
// In a CommonJS module
// const MyModule = concurrent.import(path.join(__dirname, 'sample_module.js'))
// Load it into a web worker
const { SampleObject, sampleFunction } = await MyModule.load()
// Load it into another web worker
// const { SampleObject: SampleObject2, sampleFunction: sampleFunction2 } = await MyModule.load()
// Run a function
const result = await sampleFunction(/*...args*/)
// Run a class (instance members)
const obj = await new SampleObject(/*...args*/) // Instantiate
const value = await obj.sampleProp // Get a field or getter
await ((obj.sampleProp = 1), obj.sampleProp) // Set a field or setter
const result = await obj.sampleMethod(/*...args*/) // Call a method
// Run a class (static members)
const value = await SampleObject.sampleStaticProp // Get a static field or getter
await ((SampleObject.sampleStaticProp = 1), SampleObject.sampleStaticProp) // Set a static field or setter
const result = await SampleObject.sampleStaticMethod(/*...args*/) // Call a static method
// Terminate Concurrent.js
await concurrent.terminate()

Samples

Parallelism

To run each function call or object instance on a separate CPU core, the load method of the imported module must be called for each function call or object instance individually:

import { concurrent } from '@bitair/concurrent.js'
const extraBigint = concurrent.import('extra-bigint')
// Instead of a hardcoded value, use os.availableParallelism() in Node.js
concurrent.config({ maxThreads: 16 })
const tasks = []
for (let i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {
  const { factorial } = await extraBigint.load()
  tasks.push(factorial(i))
}
const results = await Promise.all(tasks)
// ...rest of the code
await concurrent.terminate()

Reactive Concurrency

The reactive concurrency feature provides a bidirectional channel for messaging. A message can be replied to by returning a value:

services/index.mjs

// import type { IChannel } from '@bitair/concurrent.js'
export async function reactiveAdd(channel /*: IChannel */) {
  let done = false
  let sum = 0
  let i = 0
  channel.onmessage(name => {
    if (name === 'done') done = true
  })
  do {
    sum += await channel.postMessage('next', i++)
  } while (!done)
  return sum
}

index.mjs

import { concurrent, Channel } from '@bitair/concurrent.js'
const { reactiveAdd } = await concurrent.import(new URL('./services/index.mjs', import.meta.url)).load()
const channel = new Channel((onmessage, postMessage) => {
  const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4]
  onmessage(async (name, ...data) => {
    if (name === 'next') {
      const [i] = data
      if (i === arr.length - 1) await postMessage('done')
      return arr[i]
    }
  })
})
const result = await reactiveAdd(channel)
// ...rest of the code
await concurrent.terminate()

API

concurrent.import<T>(src: URL | string): IConcurrentModule<T>

Prepares a module to be loaded into workers. Note that only functions and classes can be imported.

src: URL | string

Source of the module. Must be either a URL or a package name. Note that passing a package name is only applicable in Node.js.

IConcurrentModule<T>.load() : Promise<T>

Loads the module into a worker.

concurrent.config(settings: ConcurrencySettings): void

Configures the global settings of Concurrent.js.

settings: ConcurrencySettings
- settings.maxThreads: number [default=1]
  
  The maximum number of available threads to be spawned.
- settings.threadIdleTimeout: number | typeof Infinity [default=Infinity]
  
  Number of minutes before Concurrent.js terminates an idle thread.
- settings.minThreads: number [default=0]
  
  The number of threads created when Concurrent.js starts and kept alive to avoid thread recreation overhead.

concurrent.terminate(force?: boolean): Promise<void>

Terminates Concurrent.js.

force?: boolean [Not implemented] Forces Concurrent.js to exit immediately without waiting for workers to finish their tasks.

class Channel implements IChannel

Used to send/receive messages to/from functions and methods (instance or static). Note that a function or method can only have one channel argument and it must be the last argument. The channel object cannot be reused to call another function or method.

constructor(listener: (onmessage: Channel['onmessage'], postMessage: Channel['postMessage']) => void)

```
onmessage(handler: (name: string | number, ...data: unknown[]) => unknown): void
```
Sets the event handler for receiving a message. The handler should return a value if a reply is required for the message.

postMessage(name: string | number, ...data: unknown[]): Promise<unknown>

Sends a message to the other end and returns its reply.

License

MIT License