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Don't Call Us, We'll Call You:: Callback Patterns and Idioms in Python

Python

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Avanindra Kumar Pandeya
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62 views

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You:: Callback Patterns and Idioms in Python

Python

Uploaded by

Avanindra Kumar Pandeya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Don't call us, we'll call you:

callback patterns and idioms in Python


http://www.aleax.it/pyc08_cback.pdf

2008 Google -- [email protected]


Sunday, March 9, 2008

Audience levels for this talk


Shu
("Retain")

Ha
("Detach")

Ri
("Transcend")
Sunday, March 9, 2008

2
2

The "Callback" concept


it's all about library/framework code that
"calls back" into YOUR code
rather than the "traditional" (procedural)
approach where YOU call code supplied as
entry points by libraries &c
"the Hollywood principle": "don't call us,
we'll call you"
coinage: Richard E. Sweet, in "The Mesa Programming
Environment", SigPLAN Notices, July 1985

for: customization (flexibility) and "event-driven"


architectures ("lightweight concurrency")
3
Sunday, March 9, 2008

"Callback" implementation
give "somebody" a callable
the "somebody" may store it "somewhere"
a container, an attribute, whatever
or even just keep it as a local variable
and calls it "when appropriate"
when it needs some specific functionality
(i.e., for customization)
or, when appropriate events occur (state
changes, user actions, network or other
I/O, timeouts, system events, ...)
4
Sunday, March 9, 2008

Customization

5
Sunday, March 9, 2008

Customizing sort (by key)


mylist.sort(key=str.toupper)

handily, speedily embodies the DSU pattern:


def DSU_sort(mylist, key):
aux = [ (key(v), j, v)
for j, v in enumerate(mylist)]
aux.sort()
mylist[:] = [v for k, j, v in aux]

Note that a little "workaround" is needed wrt the


usual "call a method on each object" OO idiom...

6
Sunday, March 9, 2008

OO customizing: the TM DP
"Template Method" Design Pattern: perform
the callbacks by "self delegation":
class TMparent(object):
...self.somehook()...

and customize by inheriting & overriding:


class TMchild(TMparent):
...def somehook(self):...

handy, compact, sometimes a bit rigid


http://video.google.com/videoplay?
docid=-5434189201555650834 and http://
www.aleax.it/goo_pydp.pdf (49ff) for more
7
Sunday, March 9, 2008

Customizing scheduling
sched needs TWO callback functionalities:
what time is it right now?
wait (sleep) until time T
the OO way (more structured):
import time
s=sched(time)

the FP way (more flexible):

s=sched(time.time, time.sleep)

you might supply default callbacks, or not


(Dependency Injection DP & variants)
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Events

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Sunday, March 9, 2008

Kinds of "Event" callbacks


the Observer/Observable design pattern
GUI frameworks (mouse, keyboard, ...)
asynchronous (event-driven) I/O (net &c)
"event-driven" parsing (SAX &c)
"scheduled" callbacks (sched)
"concurrent" callbacks (threads &c)
timing and debugging (timeit, pdb, ...)
"system-event" callbacks

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10

The Observer DP
a "target object" lets you add "observers"
could be simple callables, or objects
when the target's state changes, it calls
back to "let the observers know"
design choices: "general" observers
(callbacks on ANY state change), "specific"
observers (callbacks on SPECIFIC state
changes; level of specificity may vary),
"grouped" observers (objects with >1
methods for kinds of state-change), ...

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Sunday, March 9, 2008

11

Callback issues
what arguments are to be used on the call?
no arguments: simplest, a bit "rough"
in Observer: pass as argument the target
object whose state just changed
lets 1 callable observe several targets
or: a "description" of the state changes
saves "round-trips" to obtain them
other: identifier or description of event
but -- what about other arguments (related
to the callable, not to the target/event)...?
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12

Fixed args in callbacks


functools.partial(callable, *a, **kw)
pre-bind any or all arguments
however, note the difference...:
x.setCbk(functools.partial(f, *a, **kw))
vs
x.setCbk(f, *a, **kw)
...having the set-callback itself accept (and
pre-bind) arguments is far neater/handier
sombunall1 Python callback systems do that
1:

Robert Anton Wilson

Sunday, March 9, 2008

13
13

Callback "dispatching"
what if more than one callback is set for a
single event (or, Observable target)?
remember and call the latest one only
simplest, roughest
remember and call them all
LIFO? FIFO? or...?
how do you _remove_ a callback?
can one callback "preempt" others?
can events (or state changes) be "grouped"?
use object w/methods instead of callable
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Sunday, March 9, 2008

14

Callbacks and Errors


are "errors" events like any others?
or are they best singled-out?

http://www.python.org/pycon/papers/deferex/

Twisted Matrix's "Deferred" pattern: one


Deferred object holds...
N "chained" callbacks for "successes" +
M "chained" callbacks for "errors"
each callback is held WITH opt *a, **kw
plus, argument for "event / error
identification" (or, result of previous
callback along the appropriate "chain")
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Scheduled callbacks
standard library module sched
s = sched.Sched(timefunc, delayfunc)
e.g, Sched(time.time, time.sleep)
evt = s.enter(delay, priority, callable, arg)
or s.enterabs(time, priority, callable, arg)
may s.cancel(evt) later
s.run() runs events until queue is empty (or
an exception is raised in callable or
delayfunc: it propagates but leaves s in
stable state, s.run can be called again later)
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System-events callbacks
for system-events:
atexit.register(callable, *a, **k)
oldhandler = signal.signal(signum, callable)
sys.displayhook, sys.excepthook,
sys.settrace(callable)
readline.set_startup_hook,
set_pre_input_hook, set_completer

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17

Q&A
http://www.aleax.it/pyc08_cback.pdf

!
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Sunday, March 9, 2008

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