Programming Challenge: Launch 4 threads, goroutines, coroutines, or whatever your language uses for concurrency, in addition to the main thread. In the first 3, add numbers together (see sample code below) and pass the results to the 4th thread. That 4th thread should receive the 3 results, add the numbers together, format the results as a strin…

goroutines2.go

// Steve Phillips / elimisteve
// 2013.01.03

// Programming Challenge: Launch 4 threads, goroutines, coroutines, or whatever your language uses for concurrency,
// in addition to the main thread. In the first 3, add numbers together (see sample code below) and pass the results
// to the 4th thread. That 4th thread should receive the 3 results, add the numbers together, format the results as
// a string (see sample code), and pass the result back to `main` to be printed.
//
// Do this as succinctly and readably as possible. _Go!_ #golang #programming #concurrency #challenge
package main

import "fmt"

// intDoubler doubles the given int, then sends it through the given channel
func intDoubler(ch chan int, n int) {
    ch <- n*2
}

func main() {
    // Make channel of ints
    ch := make(chan int)
    answer := make(chan string)

    // Spawn 3 goroutines (basically threads) to process data in background
    go intDoubler(ch, 10)
    go intDoubler(ch, 20)
    go func(a, b int) { ch <- a+b }(30, 40) // Take 2 ints, write sum to `ch`

    // Create anonymous function on the fly, launch as goroutine!
    go func() {
        // Save the 3 values passed through the channel as x, y, and z
        x, y, z := <-ch, <-ch, <-ch
        // Calculate answer, write to `answer` channel
        answer <- fmt.Sprintf("%d + %d + %d = %d", x, y, z, x+y+z)
    }()

    // Print answer resulting from channel read
    fmt.Printf("%s\n", <-answer)
}

Awesome guys, these are great.

@nizox Other than using ampersands to background processes, I didn't know it was so easy to do asynchronous programming at the command line. Sweet.

@aeonshifter I can see why using C# is much nicer than Java.

Looks like I'm gonna have to step up my game and make my Go example more succinct...

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    ch := make(chan int)
    answer := make(chan string)

    intDoubler := func(n int) { ch <- n*2 }
    go intDoubler(10)
    go intDoubler(20)
    go func(a, b int) { ch <- a+b }(30, 40)

    go func() {
        x, y, z := <-ch, <-ch, <-ch
        answer <- fmt.Sprintf("%d + %d + %d = %d", x, y, z, x+y+z)
    }()

    fmt.Printf("%s\n", <-answer)
}

Bending the rules a bit, similar to other examples...

package main

func main() {
    ch := make(chan int)

    go func(a int)    { ch <- a*2 }(10)
    go func(a int)    { ch <- a*2 }(20)
    go func(a, b int) { ch <- a+b }(30, 40)

    x, y, z := <-ch, <-ch, <-ch
    println(x, "+", y, "+", z, "=", x+y+z)
}

I'm noticing a distinct lack of python here. :P

from concurrent.futures import Future, ThreadPoolExecutor

def fmt_sum(*int_futures):
    ints = tuple(map(Future.result, int_futures))
    return ' + '.join(map(str, ints)) + ' = ' + str(sum(ints))

with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=4) as tp:
    a = tp.submit(lambda x: x * 2, 10)
    b = tp.submit(lambda x: x * 2, 20)
    c = tp.submit(lambda x, y: x + y, 30, 40)
    d = tp.submit(fmt_sum, a, b, c)

print(d.result())

Here's an update of the Rust solution:

use task::spawn;

fn main() {
    let (port, chan) = pipes::stream();
    let chan = pipes::SharedChan(chan);

    let (s1, s2, s3) = (chan.clone(), chan.clone(), chan.clone());
    do spawn { s1.send( (|a: int| a*2)(10) ) }
    do spawn { s2.send( (|a: int| a*2)(20) ) }
    do spawn { s3.send( (|a: int, b: int| a+b)(30, 40) ) }

    let (x, y, z) = (port.recv(), port.recv(), port.recv());
    io::println(fmt!("%d + %d + %d = %d", x, y, z, x+y+z));
}

Oh hey, turns out Rust has a futures library after all:

extern mod std;
use std::future::spawn;

fn main() {
    let p1 = do spawn { (|a: int| a*2)(10) },
        p2 = do spawn { (|a: int| a*2)(20) },
        p3 = do spawn { (|a: int, b: int| a+b)(30, 40) };

    let (x, y, z) = (p1.get(), p2.get(), p3.get());
    io::println(fmt!("%d + %d + %d = %d", x, y, z, x+y+z));
}

A shorter (but still readable) Haskell solution using ForkIO. Also, formatted as requested.

import Control.Concurrent
import Data.List (intercalate)

main = do
  ch <- newChan
  answer <- newEmptyMVar
  mapM (\e -> forkIO $ seq e $ writeChan ch e)
       [10 * 2, 20 * 2, 30 + 40]
  forkIO $ do nums <- mapM readChan [ch,ch,ch]
              let ans = intercalate " + " (map show nums)
                        ++ " = " ++ show (sum nums)
              seq ans $ putMVar answer ans
  putStrLn =<< takeMVar answer

Haskell's laziness has to be carefully considered to ensure that the multiplications & additions run on the right thread. forkIO isn't really designed for scheduling pure computations onto multiple threads; par is probably a better choice here. I checked the above using Debug.Trace and myThreadId, and it seems to do the right thing.

Ruby (works in MRI, RBX and Jruby):

require "rubygems"
require "celluloid"

ws = []
times_two = lambda { |x| x * 2 }
ws << Celluloid::Future.new { times_two.call(10) }
ws << Celluloid::Future.new { times_two.call(20) }
ws << Celluloid::Future.new { lambda { |x,y| x + y }.call(30, 40) }
r = Celluloid::Future.new do
  vs = ws.map { |w| w.value }
  "#{vs.join(" + ")} = #{vs.reduce(:+)}"
end

puts r.value

Slight variation on Yoav (excellent) Clojure solution, replacing the eval with pcalls to functions.

(let [v (pcalls #(* 2 10) #(* 2 20) #(+ 30 40))] 
   (println @(future (str (reduce #(str %1 "+" %2) v) "=" (reduce + v)))))

Just notice @mnicky had even better solution with pvalues...

Mozart/Oz:

functor
import
    Application System
define X Y Z S in
    thread X =  2 * 10 end
    thread Y =  2 * 20 end
    thread Z = 30 + 40 end

    thread S = X#" + "#Y#" + "#Z#" = "#(X + Y + Z) end

    {System.showInfo S}
    {Application.exit 0}
end

Another Clojure example, this time with a bit of macro meta-programming to give us a beautiful syntax:

(defmacro go [& body] `@(future ~@body))

(go (+ (go (* 2 10)) 
       (go (* 2 20))
       (go (+ 30 40))))

You're really missing a Scala example.

import concurrent.Future
  for (a <- Future { 2 * 10 };
       b <- Future { 2 * 20 };
       c <- Future { 30 + 40 };
       sum <- Future { a + b + c })
  { println(s"$a + $b + $c = $sum") }

That's pretty readable.

And the console output:

scala> :paste
// Entering paste mode (ctrl-D to finish)

  for (a <- Future { 2 * 10 };
        b <- Future { 2 * 20 };
        c <- Future { 30 + 40 };
        sum <- Future { a + b + c })
  { println(s"$a + $b + $c = $sum") }

// Exiting paste mode, now interpreting.


scala> 20 + 40 + 70 = 130

C, written in an archaic style, likely would work on an early UNIX system.

#include <sys/wait.h>

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int intDoubler(i)
     int i;
{
        return i * 2;
}

int intAdder2(i, j)
     int i, j;
{
        return i + j;
}

int intAdder3(i, j, k)
     int i, j, k;
{
        return i + j + k;
}

int main(argc, argv)
     int argc;
     char *argv[];
{
        int answer;
        int i, j, k;

        switch (fork()) {
        case 0:
                switch (fork()) {
                case 0:
                        return intDoubler(10);
                default:
                        break;
                }

                switch (fork()) {
                case 0:
                        return intDoubler(20);
                default:
                        break;
                }

                switch (fork()) {
                case 0:
                        return intAdder2(30, 40);
                default:
                        break;
                }

                wait(&i);
                wait(&j);
                wait(&k);
                return intAdder3(WEXITSTATUS(i), WEXITSTATUS(j), WEXITSTATUS(k));
        default:
                wait(&answer);
                printf("%d\n", WEXITSTATUS(answer));
                break;
        }

        return 0;
}

Here is nearly verbatim copy of the go source into haskell:

import Control.Monad
import Control.Concurrent
import Control.Concurrent.Chan

import Text.Printf

double :: Chan Int -> Int -> IO ()
double ch n = writeChan ch (n*2)

main = do
    ch <- newChan
    answer <- newChan

    forkIO $ double ch 10
    forkIO $ double ch 20
    forkIO $ (\a b -> writeChan ch (a + b)) 30 40
    forkIO $ do
        [x, y, z] <- replicateM 3 $ readChan ch
        writeChan answer $ (printf "%d + %d + %d = %d" x y z (x+y+z) :: String)

    printf "%s\n" =<< readChan answer

Haskell, using monad-par:

module Main where

import Control.Monad
import Control.Monad.Par
import Text.Printf

-- | some common boilerplate
defer :: (NFData a) => Par a -> Par (Par a)
defer = liftM get . spawn
deferP :: (NFData a) => a -> Par (Par a)
deferP = liftM get . spawnP

calc :: Par String
calc = do
  pa <- deferP (2 * 10 :: Int)
  pb <- deferP (2 * 20)
  pc <- deferP (30 + 40)
  -- pc <- defer $ liftM2 (+) pa pb  -- this is a mildly more exiting use case
  liftM3 summary pa pb pc
  where
    summary a b c = printf "%d + %d + %d = %d" a b c (a+b+c)

main = do
  print (runPar calc)

hi is the following a valid solution?

package main

import "fmt"
import "strconv"

/*
Programming Challenge: Launch 4 threads, goroutines, coroutines, or whatever your language uses for concurrency,
in addition to the main thread. In the first 3, add numbers together (see sample code below) and pass the results
to the 4th thread. That 4th thread should receive the 3 results, add the numbers together, format the results as a
string (see sample code), and pass the result back to main to be printed. Do this as succinctly and readably as
possible. Go! #golang #programming #concurrency #challenge
*/

func intToString(input_num int) string {
return strconv.FormatInt(int64(input_num), 10)
}

func intDoubler(a int, res chan int) {
res <- a * 2
}

func addInts(a int, b int, res chan int) {
res <- a + b
}

func formatFinal(res chan int, final chan string) {
var sum int

for i := 0; i<3; i++ {
    sum += <-res
}

final <- intToString(sum)

}

func main() {
intChan := make(chan int, 3)
strChan := make(chan string)

go intDoubler(10, intChan)
go intDoubler(20, intChan)
go addInts(30, 40, intChan)
go formatFinal(intChan, strChan)

res := <-strChan

fmt.Println(res)

}

Challenge accepted :)
PHP: https://gist.github.com/polonskiy/6b21065008c21170d9d6

Rust 1.3 solution (looks like the earlier Rust solutions are outdated)

use std::thread;

fn main() {
    let mut children = vec![];
    children.push(thread::spawn(move || {10*2}));
    children.push(thread::spawn(move || {20*2}));
    children.push(thread::spawn(move || {30+40}));

    let adder = thread::spawn(move || {
        let mut sum = 0;
        let result = children.into_iter().map(|child| {
            let value = child.join().unwrap();
            sum += value;
            format!("{}", value)
        }).collect::<Vec<_>>().join(" + ");
        return format!("{} = {}", result, sum);
    });

    let result = adder.join().unwrap();
    println!("{}", result);
}

@polonskiy Actually, I'm not even mad! That's amazing 😨

Would be interesting to see this done with http://libmill.org/ !