shared memory between process and main task in python - python

with some help I could run a process in python, Now I wan't to share a value betwenn the two tasks. I can set the value inside the init, but I can't change it inside the run method.
And by the way: how to kill the process when the main process stops?
from multiprocessing import Process, Value
import serial
import time
class P(Process):
def __init__(self, num):
num.value = 15
super(P, self).__init__()
def run(self):
while True:
num.value = num.value + 1
print("run simple process")
time.sleep(0.5)
def main():
while True:
print("run main")
print (num.value)
time.sleep(2.5)
if __name__ == "__main__":
num = Value('d', 0.0)
p = P(num)
p.start()
#p.join()
main()

In your simplified case you just passed num value upon initialization time.
To be able to access that value in other process's methods - set it as a state of the process:
class P(Process):
def __init__(self, num):
self.num = num
self.num.value = 15
super(P, self).__init__()
def run(self):
while True:
self.num.value += 1
print("run simple process")
time.sleep(0.5)
For a more "serious" cases - consider using Managers and Synchronization primitives.

Related

python - how to run background thread without stopping main thread

This simple code example:
import threading
import time
class Monitor():
def __init__(self):
self.stop = False
self.blocked_emails = []
def start_monitor(self):
print("Run start_monitor")
rows = []
while not self.stop:
self.check_rows(rows)
print("inside while")
time.sleep(1)
def check_rows(self, rows):
print('check_rows')
def stop_monitoring(self):
print("Run stop_monitoring")
self.stop = True
if __name__ == '__main__':
monitor = Monitor()
b = threading.Thread(name='background_monitor', target=monitor.start_monitor())
b.start()
b.join()
for i in range(0, 10):
time.sleep(2)
print('Wait 2 sec.')
monitor.stop_monitoring()
How can I run background thread, in mine case background_monitor without blocking main thread?
I wanted to background_monitor thread stopped on after stop_monitoring will be called
I mine example, the for loop from main thread never called and the background is running forever.
There are two issues with your current code. Firstly, you're calling monitor.start_monitor on this line, whereas according to the docs
target is the callable object to be invoked by the run() method. Defaults to None, meaning nothing is called
This means that you need to pass it as a function rather than calling it. To fix this, you should change the line
b = threading.Thread(name='background_monitor', target=monitor.start_monitor())
to
b = threading.Thread(name='background_monitor', target=monitor.start_monitor)
which passes the function as an argument.
Secondly, you use b.join() before stopping the thread, which waits for the second thread to finish before continuing. Instead, you should place that below the monitor.stop_monitoring().
The corrected code looks like this:
import threading
import time
class Monitor():
def __init__(self):
self.stop = False
self.blocked_emails = []
def start_monitor(self):
print("Run start_monitor")
rows = []
while not self.stop:
self.check_rows(rows)
print("inside while")
time.sleep(1)
def check_rows(self, rows):
print('check_rows')
def stop_monitoring(self):
print("Run stop_monitoring")
self.stop = True
if __name__ == '__main__':
monitor = Monitor()
b = threading.Thread(name='background_monitor', target=monitor.start_monitor)
b.start()
for i in range(0, 10):
time.sleep(2)
print('Wait 2 sec.')
monitor.stop_monitoring()
b.join()

Queue in multiprocessing blocked by threading.Timer

I need to transfer data from a subprocess to the main one.
The subprocess in doing a repetitive task using threading.timer
Whenever threading.timer is called, the queue does not work anymore.
The subprocess is acquiring data, while I want to display them in real-time in the main process.
I wrote this snippet to showcase the problem:
import threading
import multiprocessing
class MyClass():
def __init__(self, q):
self.q = q
print("put value in q: ", "start")
self.q.put("start")
self.i = 0
self.update()
def update(self):
if self.i < 3:
print("put value in q: ", self.i)
self.q.put(self.i)
self.i += 1
threading.Timer(0.5, self.update).start()
else:
self.stop()
def stop(self):
print("put value in q: ", "stop")
self.q.put("stop")
if __name__ == "__main__":
q = multiprocessing.Queue()
process = multiprocessing.Process(target = MyClass, args=(q,))
process.start()
process.join()
for i in range(5):
print("get value in q: ",q.get(block = True, timeout = 2))
and I get this only:
put value in q: start
put value in q: 0
put value in q: 1
put value in q: 2
put value in q: stop
get value in q: start
get value in q: 0
Is there a solution or a workaround?
You have process. It has main thread (MyClass() call). threading.Timer() spawns another thread along with main thread so you have to wait untill all additional threads are terminated before you stop process. So to solve the problem replace threading.Timer(0.5, self.update).start() with (wait for threads):
t = threading.Timer(0.5, self.update)
t.start()
t.join()
Or replace threading.Timer(0.5, self.update).start() with (no additional threads):
time.sleep(.5)
self.update()
Both solutions should work.

Python code to benchmark in flops using threading

I'm having trouble writing a benchmark code in python using threading. I was able to get my threading to work, but I can't get my object to return a value. I want to take the values and add them to a list so I can calculate the flops.
create class to carry out threading
class myThread(threading.Thread):
def calculation(self):
n=0
start=time.time()
ex_time=0
while ex_time < 30:
n+=1
end=time.time()
ex_time=end-start
return ex_time
def run(self):
t = threading.Thread(target = self.calculation)
t.start()
function to create threads
def make_threads(num):
times=[]
calcs=[]
for i in range(num):
print('start thread', i+1)
thread1=myThread()
t=thread1.start()
times.append(t)
#calcs.append(n)
#when trying to get a return value it comes back as none as seen
print(times)
#average out the times,add all the calculations to get the final numbers
#to calculate flops
time.sleep(32) #stop the menu from printing until calc finish
def main():
answer=1
while answer != 0:
answer=int(input("Please indicate how many threads to use: (Enter 0 to exit)"))
print("\n\nBenchmark test with ", answer, "threads")
make_threads(answer)
main()
Two ways to do this:
1. Using static variables (hacky, but efficient and quick)
Define some global variable that you then manipulate in the thread. I.e.:
import threading
import time
class myThread(threading.Thread):
def calculation(self):
n=0
start=time.time()
ex_time=0
print("Running....")
while ex_time < 30:
n+=1
end=time.time()
ex_time=end-start
self.myThreadValues[self.idValue] = ex_time
print(self.myThreadValues)
return ex_time
def setup(self,myThreadValues=None,idValue=None):
self.myThreadValues = myThreadValues
self.idValue = idValue
def run(self):
self.calculation()
#t = threading.Thread(target = self.calculation)
#t.start()
def make_threads(num):
threads=[]
calcs=[]
myThreadValues = {}
for i in range(num):
print('start thread', i+1)
myThreadValues[i] = 0
thread1=myThread()
thread1.setup(myThreadValues,i)
thread1.start()
#times.append(t)
threads.append(thread1)
# Now we need to wait for all the threads to finish. There are a couple ways to do this, but the best is joining.
print("joining all threads...")
for thread in threads:
thread.join()
#calcs.append(n)
#when trying to get a return value it comes back as none as seen
print("Final thread values: " + str(myThreadValues))
print("Done")
#average out the times,add all the calculations to get the final numbers
#to calculate flops
#time.sleep(32) #stop the menu from printing until calc finish
def main():
answer=1
while answer != 0:
answer=int(input("Please indicate how many threads to use: (Enter 0 to exit)"))
print("\n\nBenchmark test with ", answer, "threads")
make_threads(answer)
main()
2. The proper way to do this is with Processes
Processes are designed for passing information back and forth, versus threads which are commonly used for async work. See explanation here: https://docs.python.org/3/library/multiprocessing.html
See this answer: How can I recover the return value of a function passed to multiprocessing.Process?
import multiprocessing
from os import getpid
def worker(procnum):
print 'I am number %d in process %d' % (procnum, getpid())
return getpid()
if __name__ == '__main__':
pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes = 3)
print pool.map(worker, range(5))

Checking a value of an object in a running process

In this easy example how can I access the value of a counter object while the process is still running?
import multiprocessing
import time
class Counter(object):
def __init__(self):
self.value = 0
def update(self):
self.value += 1
def job(Counter):
while True:
counter.update()
if __name__ == '__main__':
counter = Counter()
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=job,args=(counter,)
p.start()
time.sleep(10)
# I want to check the value of the counter object here
p.terminate()
You have to use multiprocessing.Queue() or multiprocessing.Pipe() to communicate between processes.
multiprocessing.Pipe() creates two endpoints conn_1, conn_2 and you have to use one of them in main process and second in subprocess.
Use poll() to check if there is something in pipe and then you can use recv() to receive data. (if you use directly recv() then it will block program till you send something to pipe).
Now you can use send() to send message with result.
Here I use conn_2 in job()
import multiprocessing
import time
class Counter(object):
def __init__(self):
self.value = 0
def update(self):
self.value += 1
def job(counter, conn):
while True:
counter.update()
if conn.poll():
print('job:', conn.recv())
conn.send(counter.value)
if __name__ == '__main__':
conn_1, conn_2 = multiprocessing.Pipe()
counter = Counter()
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=job, args=(counter, conn_2))
p.start()
time.sleep(2)
# I want to check the value of the counter object here
conn_1.send('give me result')
print('result:', conn_1.recv())
p.terminate()
Here I use conn_2 directly in class
import multiprocessing
import time
class Counter(object):
def __init__(self, conn):
self.conn = conn
self.value = 0
def update(self):
self.value += 1
if self.conn.poll(): # if message from main process
print('Counter:', self.conn.recv())
self.conn.send(self.value)
def job(counter):
while True:
counter.update()
if __name__ == '__main__':
conn_1, conn_2 = multiprocessing.Pipe()
counter = Counter(conn_2)
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=job, args=(counter,))
p.start()
time.sleep(2)
conn_1.send('give me result')
print('result:', conn_1.recv())
p.terminate()
You could consider attaching a debugger (such as the PyDev debugger, GDB or others) to the running process. You can then freeze the process with a breakpoint and inspect state.

Python threading. How do I lock a thread?

I'm trying to understand the basics of threading and concurrency. I want a simple case where two threads repeatedly try to access one shared resource.
The code:
import threading
class Thread(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self, t, *args):
threading.Thread.__init__(self, target=t, args=args)
self.start()
count = 0
lock = threading.Lock()
def increment():
global count
lock.acquire()
try:
count += 1
finally:
lock.release()
def bye():
while True:
increment()
def hello_there():
while True:
increment()
def main():
hello = Thread(hello_there)
goodbye = Thread(bye)
while True:
print count
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
So, I have two threads, both trying to increment the counter. I thought that if thread 'A' called increment(), the lock would be established, preventing 'B' from accessing until 'A' has released.
Running the makes it clear that this is not the case. You get all of the random data race-ish increments.
How exactly is the lock object used?
Additionally, I've tried putting the locks inside of the thread functions, but still no luck.
You can see that your locks are pretty much working as you are using them, if you slow down the process and make them block a bit more. You had the right idea, where you surround critical pieces of code with the lock. Here is a small adjustment to your example to show you how each waits on the other to release the lock.
import threading
import time
import inspect
class Thread(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self, t, *args):
threading.Thread.__init__(self, target=t, args=args)
self.start()
count = 0
lock = threading.Lock()
def incre():
global count
caller = inspect.getouterframes(inspect.currentframe())[1][3]
print "Inside %s()" % caller
print "Acquiring lock"
with lock:
print "Lock Acquired"
count += 1
time.sleep(2)
def bye():
while count < 5:
incre()
def hello_there():
while count < 5:
incre()
def main():
hello = Thread(hello_there)
goodbye = Thread(bye)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Sample output:
...
Inside hello_there()
Acquiring lock
Lock Acquired
Inside bye()
Acquiring lock
Lock Acquired
...
import threading
# global variable x
x = 0
def increment():
"""
function to increment global variable x
"""
global x
x += 1
def thread_task():
"""
task for thread
calls increment function 100000 times.
"""
for _ in range(100000):
increment()
def main_task():
global x
# setting global variable x as 0
x = 0
# creating threads
t1 = threading.Thread(target=thread_task)
t2 = threading.Thread(target=thread_task)
# start threads
t1.start()
t2.start()
# wait until threads finish their job
t1.join()
t2.join()
if __name__ == "__main__":
for i in range(10):
main_task()
print("Iteration {0}: x = {1}".format(i,x))

Categories

Resources