rethread 1.0.0

Library for easy multithreading.

ReThread

Minimalistic Python Library for Easy Multithreading

Installation

Linux/Mac

python3 -m pip install -U rethread

Windows

py -3 -m pip install -U rethread

Example

import rethread
import time

def my_long_function():
    time.sleep(10)

    return 'a'

def some_other_function():
    for i in range(3):
        time.sleep(1)
        print(i)

def another_function(t: rethread.RunningThread):
    time.sleep(10)

    if t.done:
        print('thread is finished!')


thread = rethread.thread(my_long_function)

with thread as t: # this will run everything in this block while the above thread is running, and then wait for it to finish.
    some_other_function()
    another_function(t)

print(thread.value) # get the return value of the thread

Usage

Creating a thread

To create a thread, pass a function into the rethread.thread function. For example:

import rethread
import time

def long_function():
    time.sleep(10)

thread = rethread.thread(long_function)

If you would like to pass additional parameters, just add them after the callable in your thread call, like this:

thread = rethread.thread(long_function, 'a', 'b', 'c', some_kwarg = 'abc')

Using a thread

Once you have created your thread, you can do a number of things.

One of the most common use cases will be running the thread, doing something else in the meantime, and then waiting for it to finish. This can be done using the rethread.RunningThread context manager, like so:

import rethread
import time

def long_function():
    time.sleep(10)
    return 'hello'

def new_long_function():
    time.sleep(3)

thread = rethread.thread(long_function)

with thread:
    new_long_function()
# waits for the thread to finish

You can also wait for the thread to finish without the context manager using the RunningThread.wait() function.

thread = rethread.thread(long_function)
thread.wait() # waits for the thread to finish

Now, if you don't want to wait for the thread to finish, but just check if it's still running, you can check the RunningThread.done property. For example:

import rethread
import time

def long_function():
    time.sleep(10)

thread = rethread.thread(long_function)
print(thread.done) # False
thread.wait()
print(thread.done) # True

There's a good chance that you need the return value of the thread you're waiting on. Library's and packages like threading don't have a good way of doing this. However, rethread makes this easy with the RunningThread.value property:

import rethread
import time

def long_function():
    time.sleep(10)
    return 'hello world'

def some_other_function():
    ...

thread = rethread.thread(long_function)

with thread:
    some_other_function()

print(thread.value) # "hello world"

Warning: Rethread will raise an error if you try to read the value before the thread is finished. If you want to check if the value is set without waiting, you can use the done property or the value_set property, like this:

import rethread
import time

def long_function():
    time.sleep(10)
    return 'hello world'

thread = rethread.thread(long_function)

if thread.value_set:
    print(thread.value)
else:
    print('not finished yet!')

# prints "not finished yet!"