Paul Moore <p.f.mo...@gmail.com>: > But I don't understand what a Future is.
A future stands for a function that is scheduled to execute in the background. Personally, I have never found futures a very useful idiom in any language (Scheme, Java, Python). Or more to the point, concurrency and the notion of a function don't gel well in my mind. See also: <URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_and_promises> > A Task is a subclass of Future, but the documentation doesn't say what > it *is*, A task is almost synonymous with a future. It's something that needs to get done. -- I think asyncio is a worthwhile step up from the old asyncore module. Its main advantage is portability between operating systems. Also, it has one big advantage over threads: events can be multiplexed using asyncio.wait(return_when=FIRST_COMPLETED). However, I happen to have the privilege of working with linux so select.epoll() gives me all the power I need to deal with asynchrony. The asyncio model has the same basic flaw as threads: it makes the developer think of concurrency in terms of a bunch of linear streaks of execution. I much prefer to look at concurrency through states and events (what happened? what next?). My preferred model is known as "Callback Hell" (qv.). Asyncio seeks to offer a salvation from it. However, I am at home in the Callback Hell; equipped with Finite State Machines, the inherent complexities of the Reality are managed in the most natural, flexible manner. Marko -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
