Waitgroups in OpenSCAD

In OpenSCAD, we don’t have direct support for concurrency or wait groups. However, we can simulate a similar behavior using modules and for loops. Here’s an example that mimics the concept:

// This is the function we'll run for each worker.
module worker(id) {
    echo(str("Worker ", id, " starting"));
    // Simulate an expensive task
    // OpenSCAD doesn't have a sleep function, so we'll just print
    echo(str("Worker ", id, " done"));
}

// Main function
module main() {
    // Launch several workers
    for (i = [1:5]) {
        worker(i);
    }
}

// Call the main function
main();

In this OpenSCAD script:

1. We define a worker module that simulates the behavior of a worker. It prints a starting message, and then immediately prints a done message (as OpenSCAD doesn’t have a way to pause execution).

2. In the main module, we use a for loop to call the worker module 5 times, simulating the launching of multiple workers.

3. Finally, we call the main module to execute our script.

To run this script, save it as workers.scad and open it with OpenSCAD. The output will be visible in the console window:

ECHO: "Worker 1 starting"
ECHO: "Worker 1 done"
ECHO: "Worker 2 starting"
ECHO: "Worker 2 done"
ECHO: "Worker 3 starting"
ECHO: "Worker 3 done"
ECHO: "Worker 4 starting"
ECHO: "Worker 4 done"
ECHO: "Worker 5 starting"
ECHO: "Worker 5 done"

Note that in OpenSCAD, the execution is sequential and deterministic. Unlike the original example, the workers will always start and finish in the same order.

It’s important to understand that this is a very simplified simulation. OpenSCAD is primarily a 3D modeling scripting language and doesn’t support true concurrency or complex programming constructs like threading or asynchronous operations.

For more advanced use cases involving parallel processing or complex programming logic, you might need to consider using a different language or tool that’s more suited for such tasks.