theMainThread. The title can create and run other
threads at any time.
The ScriptX thread system is described in detail in the
ScriptX Components Guide. The ScriptX language provides a
shorthand construct for spawning threads, similar to that used
in the UNIX shell languages. The ampersand character (
& ), when used at the end of an expression as
a postfix operator, starts that expression running in a
separate thread.
(p := importBitmap "monalisa") &
computePrimesTo 10000 &
The example above starts threads running functions called
importBitmap and computePrimesTo in
parallel with the main program. Any number of separate threads
can run at the same time, subject to the limitations of memory
and processor time, allowing parallel processing of different
tasks.
The thread operator ( & ) creates a thread
object, with the expression that precedes it as the code that
runs in the thread. The thread is immediately active. You can
test the status of the thread or control the thread by using
any of the global functions or generic functions described in
the ScriptX Class Reference.
t := computePrimesTo 100 &
repeat until (t.status = @done) do
print "tick"
print "computation completed"
This example executes a computePrimesTo function
as a thread and then prints "tick" to the debug stream until
the status of the thread changes from @running to
@done.
The & operator is a shorthand form for the
callInThread global function, which creates a new
RegularThread object with an operating priority
of @normal. The value of priority,
either @normal or @high, determines
how much processing time the thread receives. See the
"Threads" chapter of the ScriptX Components Guide for more
details on thread priority.
This document is part of the ScriptX Language Guide, one of the volumes of the ScriptX Technical Reference Series. ScriptX is developed by the ScriptX Engineering Team at Apple Computer, successor to the Kaleida Engineering Team at Kaleida Labs, Inc.