Difference between revisions of "Netwire"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
(Typographic improvements and thread-safety notice) |
(Added subsection Examples and a link to tetris-hs) |
||
| (51 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | Netwire is a |
+ | Netwire is a [[Functional Reactive Programming|functional reactive programming]] library that provides both an applicative and an arrow interface. It allows you to express time-varying values with a rich event system. |
| + | * [http://hackage.haskell.org/package/netwire Project page] |
||
| + | * [http://hub.darcs.net/ertes/netwire Source repository] |
||
== Features == |
== Features == |
||
| − | Here is a list of some of the features of |
+ | Here is a list of some of the features of Netwire: |
| − | * |
+ | * applicative interface (or optionally an arrow interface), |
| + | * signal intervals, |
||
| − | * applicative interface, |
||
| + | * dynamic switching, |
||
| − | * signal inhibition (''ArrowZero'' / ''Alternative''), |
||
| + | * rich set of predefined functionality, |
||
| − | * choice and combination (''ArrowPlus'' / ''Alternative''), |
||
| + | * signal analysis (average, interpolation, peak, etc.), |
||
| − | * self-adjusting wires (''ArrowChoice''), |
||
| + | * effectful reactive systems. |
||
| − | * rich set of event wires, |
||
| − | * signal analysis wires (average, peak, etc.), |
||
| − | * impure wires. |
||
| − | == |
+ | == Scope == |
| + | Netwire's FRP framework is intended to be used for continuous applications. It replaces the traditional big main loop with its global state and event callbacks/branching by a completely declarative model. The following types of applications can benefit from using Netwire: |
||
| − | This is a quickstart introduction to Netwire for Haskell programmers familiar with arrowized functional reactive programming (AFRP), for example Yampa or Animas. It should quickly give you an idea of how the library works and how it differs from the two mentioned. |
||
| + | * artificial intelligence and bots, |
||
| − | === The wire === |
||
| + | * canvas-based graphics and animations, |
||
| + | * continuous signal synthesis (audio waves, etc.), |
||
| + | * games and game servers, |
||
| + | * scene-based user interfaces (like OpenGL and vty), |
||
| + | * simulations. |
||
| + | If you can sensibly break your application down into ''frames'', then Netwire is for you. For other kinds of reactive applications like widget-based UIs you may want to look into [[reactive-banana]] instead. |
||
| − | Netwire calls its signal transformation functions ''wires''. You can think of a wire as a device with an input line and an output line. The difference between a function and a wire is that a wire can change itself throughout its lifetime. This is the basic idea of arrowized FRP. It gives you time-dependent values. |
||
| − | A wire is parameterized over its input and output types: |
||
| + | == Get started == |
||
| − | <haskell> |
||
| − | data Wire a b |
||
| − | </haskell> |
||
| + | The documentation is contained within the package itself, but you can also read it online: |
||
| + | * [http://hub.darcs.net/ertes/netwire/browse/README.md Tutorial] |
||
| − | === Differences from Yampa === |
||
| + | * [http://hackage.haskell.org/package/netwire Project page with API docs] |
||
| − | If you are not familiar with Yampa or Animas, you can safely skip this section. |
||
| + | === Other reading === |
||
| − | The main difference between Yampa and Netwire is that the underlying arrow is impure. While you can choose not to use the impure wires inside of the '''FRP.NetWire.IO''' module, it is a design choice for this library to explicitly allow impure computations. One theoretical implication is that you need to differentiate between pure stateless, pure stateful and impure signal transformations. |
||
| + | * [http://todayincode.tumblr.com/post/96914679355/almost-a-netwire-5-tutorial Almost a Netwire 5 Tutorial] |
||
| − | A concept not found in Yampa is signal inhibition. A wire can choose not to return anything. This way you can temporarily block entire subnetworks. This is most useful with the combination operator ''<+>''. Example: |
||
| − | <haskell> |
||
| − | w = w1 <+> w2 |
||
| − | </haskell> |
||
| + | === Examples === |
||
| − | The ''w'' wire runs its signal through the wire ''w1'', and if it inhibits, it passes the signal to ''w2''. |
||
| + | * [https://github.com/ScrambledEggsOnToast/tetris-hs tetris-hs] |
||
| − | Another concept not found in Yampa is choice. Through the ''ArrowChoice'' instance wires allow you to choose one of a set of subwires for its signal without needing a switch. Essentially you can write ''if'' and ''case'' constructs inside of arrow notation. |
||
| − | Because of their impurity wires do not have an ''ArrowLoop'' instance. It is possible to write one, but it will diverge most of the time, rendering it useless. |
||
| + | == Model and correctness == |
||
| + | Netwire's underlying abstraction is more powerful than the [http://conal.net/papers/icfp97/ original formulation of time-varying values]. It allows you to implement general component systems with local state. |
||
| − | === Using a wire === |
||
| + | Starting with Netwire 5 there are two module trees <hask>Control.Wire</hask> and <hask>FRP.Netwire</hask>. The latter exports a subset of Netwire that closely follows the original model and provides a set of predefined FRP wires. |
||
| − | To run a wire you will need to use the ''withWire'' and ''stepWire'' functions. The ''withWire'' initializes a wire and gives you a ''Session'' value. As metioned earlier in general a wire is a function, which can mutate itself over time. The session value captures the current state of the wire. |
||
| + | Signal intervals are an extension of the original model and an integral part of Netwire: A behavior is a ''partial'' function of time with the limitation that both the defined and undefined intervals must have a non-zero length. This extension makes it much easier to express switching and multicasting systems. |
||
| − | <haskell> |
||
| − | initWire :: Wire a b -> (Session a b -> IO c) -> IO c |
||
| − | stepWire :: a -> Session a b -> IO (Maybe b) |
||
| − | </haskell> |
||
| + | == History == |
||
| − | The ''stepWire'' function passes the given input value through the wire. If you use ''stepWire'', then the wire will mutate in real time. If you need a different rate of time, you can use ''stepWireDelta'' or ''stepWireTime'' instead. |
||
| + | This project started in 2011 as a replacement for Yampa to provide both a nicer interface and better integration into existing frameworks. Its original purpose was to power game servers and intelligent network bots. That's the origin of the name ''Netwire''. |
||
| − | The stepping functions return a ''Maybe b''. If the wire inhibits, then the result is ''Nothing'', otherwise it will be ''Just'' the output. Here is a complete example: |
||
| + | However, before its first release ''signal intervals'' were added (originally under the term ''signal inhibition''). Netwire became a completely new abstraction, so it lost its connection to Yampa. |
||
| − | <haskell> |
||
| − | {-# LANGUAGE Arrows #-} |
||
| + | [[Category:FRP]] |
||
| − | module Main where |
||
| − | |||
| − | import Control.Monad |
||
| − | import FRP.NetWire |
||
| − | import Text.Printf |
||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | myWire :: Wire () String |
||
| − | myWire = |
||
| − | proc _ -> do |
||
| − | t <- time -< () |
||
| − | fps <- avgFps 1000 -< () |
||
| − | fpsPeak <- highPeak -< fps |
||
| − | |||
| − | if t < 4 |
||
| − | then identity -< "Waiting four seconds." |
||
| − | else identity -< |
||
| − | printf "Got them! (%8.0f FPS, peak: %8.0f)" |
||
| − | fps fpsPeak |
||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | main :: IO () |
||
| − | main = withWire myWire loop |
||
| − | where |
||
| − | loop :: Session () String -> IO () |
||
| − | loop session = |
||
| − | forever $ do |
||
| − | mResult <- stepWire () session |
||
| − | case mResult of |
||
| − | Nothing -> putStr "Signal inhibted." |
||
| − | Just x -> putStr x |
||
| − | putChar '\r' |
||
| − | </haskell> |
||
| − | |||
| − | This program should display the string "Waiting four seconds." for four seconds and then switch to a string, which displays the current average frames per second and peak frames per second. |
||
| − | |||
| − | Note: Sessions are thread-safe. You are allowed to use the stepping functions for the same wire from multiple threads. This makes it easy to implement conditional stepping based on system events. |
||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | === Writing a wire === |
||
| − | |||
| − | ==== Pure stateless wires ==== |
||
| − | |||
| − | Pure stateless wires are easy to explain, so let's start with them. A pure stateless wire is essentially just a function of input and time. The simplest wire is the ''identity'' wire. It disregards time and just returns its input verbatim: |
||
| − | |||
| − | <haskell> |
||
| − | identity :: Wire a a |
||
| − | </haskell> |
||
| − | |||
| − | If you run such a wire (see the previous section), then you will just get your input back all the time. Another simple wire is the ''constant'' wire, which also disregards time: |
||
| − | |||
| − | <haskell> |
||
| − | constant :: b -> Wire a b |
||
| − | </haskell> |
||
| − | |||
| − | If you run the wire <code>constant 15</code>, you will get as output the number 15 all the time, regardless of the current time and the input. |
||
Latest revision as of 21:39, 2 October 2014
Netwire is a functional reactive programming library that provides both an applicative and an arrow interface. It allows you to express time-varying values with a rich event system.
Features
Here is a list of some of the features of Netwire:
- applicative interface (or optionally an arrow interface),
- signal intervals,
- dynamic switching,
- rich set of predefined functionality,
- signal analysis (average, interpolation, peak, etc.),
- effectful reactive systems.
Scope
Netwire's FRP framework is intended to be used for continuous applications. It replaces the traditional big main loop with its global state and event callbacks/branching by a completely declarative model. The following types of applications can benefit from using Netwire:
- artificial intelligence and bots,
- canvas-based graphics and animations,
- continuous signal synthesis (audio waves, etc.),
- games and game servers,
- scene-based user interfaces (like OpenGL and vty),
- simulations.
If you can sensibly break your application down into frames, then Netwire is for you. For other kinds of reactive applications like widget-based UIs you may want to look into reactive-banana instead.
Get started
The documentation is contained within the package itself, but you can also read it online:
Other reading
Examples
Model and correctness
Netwire's underlying abstraction is more powerful than the original formulation of time-varying values. It allows you to implement general component systems with local state.
Starting with Netwire 5 there are two module trees Control.Wire and FRP.Netwire. The latter exports a subset of Netwire that closely follows the original model and provides a set of predefined FRP wires.
Signal intervals are an extension of the original model and an integral part of Netwire: A behavior is a partial function of time with the limitation that both the defined and undefined intervals must have a non-zero length. This extension makes it much easier to express switching and multicasting systems.
History
This project started in 2011 as a replacement for Yampa to provide both a nicer interface and better integration into existing frameworks. Its original purpose was to power game servers and intelligent network bots. That's the origin of the name Netwire.
However, before its first release signal intervals were added (originally under the term signal inhibition). Netwire became a completely new abstraction, so it lost its connection to Yampa.