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= New I/O =
= New I/O =


''This page is currently being created. Please do not edit.''
This is a new I/O library for Haskell that is intended to provide a
high performance API that make good use of advance operating system
facilities for I/O.


== Rationale and Goals ==
== Rationale and Goals ==


Haskell 98 specifies and number of I/O actions. All these actions accept and return <hask>String</hask>s. However, <hask>String</hask>s are not a good type for performing I/O in all cases. Their structure give them bad cache locality and they take up more memory per byte or character than more compact representations like <hask>ByteString</hask>s. It is also conceptually the wrong type for some operations. For example, sockets receive and send bytes while file I/O often deals in terms of characters and yet both use <hask>String</hask> to represent these two different concepts.
Haskell 98 specifies and number of I/O actions. All these actions accept and return <hask>String</hask>s. However, <hask>String</hask>s perform badly and waste space. They are also conceptually the wrong type for many operations. For example, sockets receive and send bytes while file I/O often deals in terms of characters and yet both use <hask>String</hask> while sockets should use a data type that represents binary data such as <hask>ByteString</hask>s.


We need to first create a low-level API that covers the basic I/O functionality provided by the operating system which other, more high-level libraries can build upon.
Furthermore, do not use of efficient operating system APIs for asynchronous I/O like <code>epoll</code>.


== Background Study ==
== Background Study ==
Line 17: Line 19:
While Java first I/O library was built using streams the new I/O library, dubbed NIO, uses a similar concept called channels. The two basic channels, <code>ReadableByteChannel</code> and <code>WritableByteChannel</code>, have a very narrow interface only providing a single read and a single write function. These two function operate on <code>ByteBuffer</code>s. <code>ByteBuffer</code>s are mutable buffers that keep track on the next position available for writing and reading. Since the buffers can be allocated in a memory region used by the operating system for its native I/O operations additional copying can be avoided and the CPU might not have to be involved in the data transfer at all.
While Java first I/O library was built using streams the new I/O library, dubbed NIO, uses a similar concept called channels. The two basic channels, <code>ReadableByteChannel</code> and <code>WritableByteChannel</code>, have a very narrow interface only providing a single read and a single write function. These two function operate on <code>ByteBuffer</code>s. <code>ByteBuffer</code>s are mutable buffers that keep track on the next position available for writing and reading. Since the buffers can be allocated in a memory region used by the operating system for its native I/O operations additional copying can be avoided and the CPU might not have to be involved in the data transfer at all.


A Haskell clone of this API split into two modules could look as follows. First the buffer module:
=== Available OS APIs for asynchronous I/O ===


<haskell>
==== epoll ====
module System.Nio.Buffers
    ( ByteBuffer,
      allocate,
      clear,
      flip,
      get,
      hasRemaining,
      limit,
      position,
      put,
      remaining,
      rewind,
      setLimit,
      setPosition
    ) where


import Data.ByteString.Internal (mallocByteString)
Linux provides <code>epoll</code>, a more efficient version of the older <code>poll</code> API, since version 2.5.44. The man page describes <code>epoll</code>:
import Data.IORef (IORef, newIORef, modifyIORef, readIORef, writeIORef)
import Data.Word (Word8)
import Foreign (ForeignPtr, peek, plusPtr, poke, withForeignPtr)
import Prelude hiding (flip)


-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
<blockquote>
-- Buffers
<p>"An  epoll  set  is connected to a file descriptor created by epoll_create(2).  Interest for certain file descriptors is then  registered  via epoll_ctl(2).  Finally, the actual wait is started by epoll_wait(2).</p>
<p>
An  epoll  set  is connected to a file descriptor created by epoll_create(2).  Interest for certain file descriptors is then  registered  via epoll_ctl(2).  Finally, the actual wait is started by epoll_wait(2)."
</p>
</blockquote>


-- | A byte buffer.
The API provides the following functions:
data ByteBuffer = ByteBuffer
    {-# UNPACK #-} !(IORef Int)  -- capacity
    {-# UNPACK #-} !(IORef Int)  -- limit
    {-# UNPACK #-} !(IORef Int)  -- position
    {-# UNPACK #-} !(ForeignPtr Word8)


-- | Allocates a new byte buffer.
<pre>
--
#include <sys/epoll.h>
-- The new buffer's position will be zero, its limit will be its
-- capacity, and its mark will be undefined.
int epoll_create(int size);
allocate :: Int -> IO ByteBuffer
int epoll_ctl(int epfd, int op, int fd, struct epoll_event *event);
allocate capacity = do
int epoll_wait(int epfd, struct epoll_event *events,
  cap <- newIORef capacity
              int maxevents, int timeout);
  lim <- newIORef capacity
int epoll_pwait(int epfd, struct epoll_event *events,
  pos <- newIORef 0
                int maxevents, int timeout,
  fp <- mallocByteString capacity
                const sigset_t *sigmask);
  return $! ByteBuffer cap lim pos fp
</pre>
 
-- | Clears this buffer. The position is set to zero, and the limit is
-- set to the capacity.
--
-- This method does not actually erase the data in the buffer, but it
-- is named as if it did because it will most often be used in
-- situations in which that might as well be the case.
clear :: ByteBuffer -> IO ()
clear (ByteBuffer cap lim pos _) = do
  readIORef cap >>= writeIORef lim
  writeIORef pos 0
 
-- | Flips this buffer. The limit is set to the current position and
-- then the position is set to zero.
flip :: ByteBuffer -> IO ()
flip (ByteBuffer _ lim pos _) = do
  readIORef pos >>= writeIORef lim
  writeIORef pos 0
 
-- | Reads the byte at this buffer's current position, and then
-- increments the position.
get :: ByteBuffer -> IO Word8
get (ByteBuffer _ lim pos fp) = do
  lim' <- readIORef lim
  pos' <- readIORef pos
  if pos' == lim'
    then error "BufferUnderflowException"
    else do
      b <- withForeignPtr fp $ \p -> peek (p `plusPtr` pos')
      modifyIORef pos (+ 1)
      return b
 
-- | Tells whether there are any elements between the current position
-- and the limit.
hasRemaining :: ByteBuffer -> IO Bool
hasRemaining (ByteBuffer _ lim pos _) = do
  lim' <- readIORef lim
  pos' <- readIORef pos
  return $! pos' < lim'
 
-- | Returns this buffer's limit.
limit :: ByteBuffer -> IO Int
limit (ByteBuffer _ lim _ _) = readIORef lim
 
-- | Returns this buffer's position.
position :: ByteBuffer -> IO Int
position (ByteBuffer _ _ pos _) = readIORef pos
 
-- | Writes the given byte into this buffer at the current position,
-- and then increments the position.
put :: Word8 -> ByteBuffer -> IO ()
put b (ByteBuffer _ lim pos fp) = do
  lim' <- readIORef lim
  pos' <- readIORef pos
  if pos' == lim'
    then error "BufferOverflowException"
    else do withForeignPtr fp $ \p -> poke (p `plusPtr` pos') b
            modifyIORef pos (+ 1)
 
-- | Returns the number of elements between the current position and
-- the limit.
remaining :: ByteBuffer -> IO Int
remaining (ByteBuffer _ lim pos _) = do
  lim' <- readIORef lim
  pos' <- readIORef pos
  return $! lim' - pos'
 
-- | Rewinds this buffer. The position is set to zero.
rewind :: ByteBuffer -> IO ()
rewind (ByteBuffer _ _ pos _) = writeIORef pos 0
 
-- | Sets this buffer's limit. If the position is larger than the new
-- limit then it is set to the new limit.
setLimit :: Int -> ByteBuffer -> IO ()
setLimit newLimit (ByteBuffer cap lim pos _) = do
  cap' <- readIORef cap
  if newLimit < 0 || newLimit > cap'
    then error "IllegalArgumentException"
    else do
      writeIORef lim newLimit
      pos' <- readIORef pos
      writeIORef pos $! (min pos' newLimit)
 
-- | Sets this buffer's position.
setPosition :: Int -> ByteBuffer -> IO ()
setPosition newPosition (ByteBuffer _ lim pos _) = do
  lim' <- readIORef lim
  if newPosition < 0 || newPosition > lim'
    then error "IllegalArgumentException"
    else writeIORef pos newPosition
</haskell>
 
And then the channel module:
 
<haskell>
module System.Nio.Channels
    ( Channel(..),
      ReadableByteChannel(..),
      WriteableByteChannel(..)
    ) where
 
import System.Nio.Buffers
 
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Channels
 
class Channel a where
    close :: a -> IO ()
    isOpen :: a -> IO Bool
 
class Channel a => ReadableByteChannel a where
    read :: a -> ByteBuffer -> IO Int
 
class Channel a => WritableByteChannel a where
    write :: a -> ByteBuffer -> IO Int
</haskell>
 
Missing from this implementation is a function to allocate buffers inside the operating system's area for native I/O and instances of the different channel classes.
 
The main drawback of this design is that it makes heavy use of mutable data structures (i.e. the buffers).


== Raw I/O ==
== Raw I/O ==

Revision as of 13:00, 10 August 2008

New I/O

This is a new I/O library for Haskell that is intended to provide a high performance API that make good use of advance operating system facilities for I/O.

Rationale and Goals

Haskell 98 specifies and number of I/O actions. All these actions accept and return Strings. However, Strings perform badly and waste space. They are also conceptually the wrong type for many operations. For example, sockets receive and send bytes while file I/O often deals in terms of characters and yet both use String while sockets should use a data type that represents binary data such as ByteStrings.

Furthermore, do not use of efficient operating system APIs for asynchronous I/O like epoll.

Background Study

To get a good idea of the different possible trade-offs in designing an I/O library here's an overview over what I/O libraries look like in other programming languages.

Java

While Java first I/O library was built using streams the new I/O library, dubbed NIO, uses a similar concept called channels. The two basic channels, ReadableByteChannel and WritableByteChannel, have a very narrow interface only providing a single read and a single write function. These two function operate on ByteBuffers. ByteBuffers are mutable buffers that keep track on the next position available for writing and reading. Since the buffers can be allocated in a memory region used by the operating system for its native I/O operations additional copying can be avoided and the CPU might not have to be involved in the data transfer at all.

Available OS APIs for asynchronous I/O

epoll

Linux provides epoll, a more efficient version of the older poll API, since version 2.5.44. The man page describes epoll:

"An epoll set is connected to a file descriptor created by epoll_create(2). Interest for certain file descriptors is then registered via epoll_ctl(2). Finally, the actual wait is started by epoll_wait(2).

An epoll set is connected to a file descriptor created by epoll_create(2). Interest for certain file descriptors is then registered via epoll_ctl(2). Finally, the actual wait is started by epoll_wait(2)."

The API provides the following functions: 

#include <sys/epoll.h>
 
int epoll_create(int size);
int epoll_ctl(int epfd, int op, int fd, struct epoll_event *event);
int epoll_wait(int epfd, struct epoll_event *events,
               int maxevents, int timeout);
int epoll_pwait(int epfd, struct epoll_event *events,
                int maxevents, int timeout,
                const sigset_t *sigmask);

Raw I/O

The new I/O library resides in the New I/O (NIO) module. 

module System.Nio

All I/O actions deal in terms of ByteStrings. 

import Data.ByteString
read :: Handle -> Int -> IO ByteString
write :: Handle -> ByteString -> IO Int
tell :: Handle -> IO Integer
seek :: Handle -> SeekMode -> Integer -> IO ()
close :: Handle -> IO ()
truncate :: Handle -> Integer -> IO ()  -- should throw some kind of exception
isReadable :: Handle -> IO Bool
isWritable :: Handle -> IO Bool

Buffered I/O

Text I/O

Non-blocking I/O

Extensibility

References

  1. http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3116/
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