Channels in Wolfram Language

(* Channels are the pipes that connect concurrent computations. 
   You can send values into channels from one computation and 
   receive those values into another computation. *)

(* Create a new channel using CreateDataStructure["Channel"]. 
   Channels in Wolfram Language are not typed. *)
messages = CreateDataStructure["Channel"];

(* Send a value into a channel using the "Push" method. 
   Here we send "ping" to the messages channel we made above, 
   from a new parallel computation. *)
ParallelSubmit[messages["Push", "ping"]];

(* The "Pop" method receives a value from the channel. 
   Here we'll receive the "ping" message we sent above and print it out. *)
msg = messages["Pop"];
Print[msg]

When we run the program, the “ping” message is successfully passed from one parallel computation to another via our channel.

$ wolframscript -code "<above code>"
ping

In Wolfram Language, channels are implemented using the CreateDataStructure["Channel"] function. This creates a thread-safe queue that can be used for communication between parallel computations.

The ParallelSubmit function is used to start a new parallel computation, similar to a goroutine in other languages. The Push and Pop methods are used to send and receive values through the channel respectively.

By default, the Pop method blocks until a value is available in the channel. This property allowed us to wait at the end of our program for the “ping” message without having to use any other synchronization.

Note that Wolfram Language’s implementation of channels is more flexible than in some other languages, as it’s not strictly typed and can handle any kind of data. However, this also means that you need to be more careful about what you put into and take out of the channel.