qi(1): Quirks #153

New Issue

emma · 2024-08-04T09:41:42-06:00

emma commented

2024-08-04 09:41:42 -06:00

Redirects and pipes should be atomic—one should wait for another to conclude before beginning—as it would allow an interesting flow of data (including the ability to pipe a stream and redirect a file into a utility).

Redirects and pipes should be atomic—one should wait for another to conclude before beginning—as it would allow an interesting flow of data (including the ability to pipe a stream *and* redirect a file into a utility).

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labels 2024-08-04 09:41:42 -06:00

emma added this to the `qi(1)` project 2024-08-04 09:41:42 -06:00

sashakoshka commented

2024-08-04 17:48:25 -06:00

one should wait for another to conclude before beginning

What do you mean by this? Because I take it to mean that if you have:

ar | bar | car

Then ar runs, its output is buffered and then sent to bar, which then does the same thing to car, which then outputs to stdout or what have you. The problem with this is if ar outputs 2 gigabytes of data, now you have 2 gigabytes of data sitting in memory, and ar must generate all of it before bar or car can run at all. Only one factory worker on the assembly line can move their arms at a time and you produce only one car per day.

> one should wait for another to conclude before beginning What do you mean by this? Because I take it to mean that if you have: ```sh ar | bar | car ``` Then `ar` runs, its output is buffered and then sent to `bar`, which then does the same thing to `car`, which then outputs to stdout or what have you. The problem with this is if `ar` outputs 2 gigabytes of data, now you have 2 gigabytes of data sitting in memory, and `ar` must generate all of it before `bar` or `car` can run at all. Only one factory worker on the assembly line can move their arms at a time and you produce only one `car` per day.

emma commented

2024-08-04 18:19:39 -06:00

In this example:
ar | bar | car <file
data flows through the pipes to car first, before attempting to read in file using a redirect to car. This assumes car attempts two reads in the course of its execution.

In this example: `ar | bar | car <file` data flows through the pipes to `car` *first*, before attempting to read in `file` using a redirect to `car`. This assumes `car` attempts two reads in the course of its execution.

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