Channels in Racket
In Racket, we can use threads and channels to achieve similar functionality to Go’s goroutines and channels. Here’s how we can implement the channels example:
Let’s break down this example:
We start by creating an asynchronous channel using
make-async-channel
. This is similar to Go’smake(chan string)
.To send a value into the channel, we use
async-channel-put
. We wrap this in athread
to mimic Go’s goroutine behavior. This is equivalent to Go’sgo func() { messages <- "ping" }()
.To receive a value from the channel, we use
async-channel-get
. This is similar to Go’s<-messages
.Finally, we print the received message using
displayln
.
When we run this program, the “ping” message is successfully passed from one thread to another via our channel.
By default, async-channel-get
will block until a value is available, and async-channel-put
will not block unless the channel’s buffer is full. This behavior allows us to wait at the end of our program for the “ping” message without having to use any other synchronization mechanism.
Racket’s async channels provide a flexible way to communicate between threads, similar to Go’s channels. They can be used for synchronization and passing data between concurrent parts of a program.