Tickers in Wolfram Language

In Wolfram Language, we can create a similar functionality to Go’s tickers using the Timing function and a While loop. Here’s an example that demonstrates periodic execution:

(* Create a function to simulate a ticker *)
ticker[interval_] := Module[{startTime = AbsoluteTime[]},
  Function[{},
   If[AbsoluteTime[] - startTime >= interval,
    startTime = AbsoluteTime[];
    True,
    False
   ]
  ]
 ]

(* Create a ticker that ticks every 0.5 seconds *)
tick = ticker[0.5];

(* Function to print the current time *)
printTick[] := Print["Tick at ", DateString[]]

(* Run the ticker for about 1.6 seconds *)
startTime = AbsoluteTime[];
While[AbsoluteTime[] - startTime < 1.6,
 If[tick[],
  printTick[]
 ];
 Pause[0.1];  (* Small pause to prevent busy-waiting *)
]

Print["Ticker stopped"]

When we run this program, the ticker should tick 3 times before we stop it:

Tick at Thu 13 Apr 2023 12:34:56
Tick at Thu 13 Apr 2023 12:34:57
Tick at Thu 13 Apr 2023 12:34:57
Ticker stopped

In this Wolfram Language version:

1. We define a ticker function that simulates the behavior of Go’s time.NewTicker. It returns a function that, when called, checks if the specified interval has passed since the last tick.

2. We create a ticker that ticks every 0.5 seconds using our ticker function.

3. The printTick function is equivalent to the fmt.Println("Tick at", t) in the Go version.

4. Instead of using goroutines and channels, we use a While loop to run the ticker for approximately 1.6 seconds. This simulates the behavior of the Go version’s time.Sleep(1600 * time.Millisecond).

5. Inside the loop, we check if it’s time for a tick using our tick function. If it is, we call printTick.

6. We use a small Pause to prevent busy-waiting and reduce CPU usage.

7. After the loop ends, we print “Ticker stopped” to indicate that the ticker has been stopped.

This Wolfram Language version achieves similar functionality to the Go example, demonstrating how to perform periodic tasks and stop them after a certain duration.