18.5.7. Develop with asyncio

Python 3.4

18.5.7. Develop with asyncio

Asynchronous programming is different than classical “sequential” programming. This page lists common traps and explains how to avoid them.

18.5.7.1. Concurrency and multithreading

An event loop runs in a thread and executes all callbacks and tasks in the same thread. While a task is running in the event loop, no other task is running in the same thread. But when the task uses yield from, the task is suspended and the event loop executes the next task.

To schedule a callback from a different thread, the BaseEventLoop.call_soon_threadsafe() method should be used. Example to schedule a coroutine from a different thread:

loop.call_soon_threadsafe(asyncio.async, coro_func())

Most asyncio objects are not thread safe. You should only worry if you access objects outside the event loop. For example, to cancel a future, don’t call directly its Future.cancel() method, but:

loop.call_soon_threadsafe(fut.cancel)

To handle signals and to execute subprocesses, the event loop must be run in the main thread.

The BaseEventLoop.run_in_executor() method can be used with a thread pool executor to execute a callback in different thread to not block the thread of the event loop.

See also

See the Synchronization primitives section to synchronize tasks.

18.5.7.2. Handle blocking functions correctly

Blocking functions should not be called directly. For example, if a function blocks for 1 second, other tasks are delayed by 1 second which can have an important impact on reactivity.

For networking and subprocesses, the asyncio module provides high-level APIs like protocols.

An executor can be used to run a task in a different thread or even in a different process, to not block the thread of the event loop. See the BaseEventLoop.run_in_executor() method.

See also

The Delayed calls section details how the event loop handles time.

18.5.7.3. Logging

The asyncio module logs information with the logging module in the logger 'asyncio'.

18.5.7.4. Detect coroutine objects never scheduled

When a coroutine function is called but not passed to async() or to the Task constructor, it is not scheduled and it is probably a bug.

To detect such bug, set the environment variable PYTHONASYNCIODEBUG to 1. When the coroutine object is destroyed by the garbage collector, a log will be emitted with the traceback where the coroutine function was called. See the asyncio logger.

The debug flag changes the behaviour of the coroutine() decorator. The debug flag value is only used when then coroutine function is defined, not when it is called. Coroutine functions defined before the debug flag is set to True will not be tracked. For example, it is not possible to debug coroutines defined in the asyncio module, because the module must be imported before the flag value can be changed.

Example with the bug:

import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine
def test():
    print("never scheduled")

test()

Output in debug mode:

Coroutine 'test' defined at test.py:4 was never yielded from

The fix is to call the async() function or create a Task object with this coroutine object.

18.5.7.5. Detect exceptions not consumed

Python usually calls sys.displayhook() on unhandled exceptions. If Future.set_exception() is called, but the exception is not consumed, sys.displayhook() is not called. Instead, a log is emitted when the future is deleted by the garbage collector, with the traceback where the exception was raised. See the asyncio logger.

Example of unhandled exception:

import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine
def bug():
    raise Exception("not consumed")

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
asyncio.async(bug())
loop.run_forever()

Output:

Future/Task exception was never retrieved:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.4/asyncio/tasks.py", line 279, in _step
    result = next(coro)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.4/asyncio/tasks.py", line 80, in coro
    res = func(*args, **kw)
  File "test.py", line 5, in bug
    raise Exception("not consumed")
Exception: not consumed

There are different options to fix this issue. The first option is to chain to coroutine in another coroutine and use classic try/except:

@asyncio.coroutine
def handle_exception():
    try:
        yield from bug()
    except Exception:
        print("exception consumed")

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
asyncio.async(handle_exception())
loop.run_forever()

Another option is to use the BaseEventLoop.run_until_complete() function:

task = asyncio.async(bug())
try:
    loop.run_until_complete(task)
except Exception:
    print("exception consumed")

See also the Future.exception() method.

18.5.7.6. Chain coroutines correctly

When a coroutine function calls other coroutine functions and tasks, they should be chained explicitly with yield from. Otherwise, the execution is not guaranteed to be sequential.

Example with different bugs using asyncio.sleep() to simulate slow operations:

import asyncio

@asyncio.coroutine
def create():
    yield from asyncio.sleep(3.0)
    print("(1) create file")

@asyncio.coroutine
def write():
    yield from asyncio.sleep(1.0)
    print("(2) write into file")

@asyncio.coroutine
def close():
    print("(3) close file")

@asyncio.coroutine
def test():
    asyncio.async(create())
    asyncio.async(write())
    asyncio.async(close())
    yield from asyncio.sleep(2.0)
    loop.stop()

loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
asyncio.async(test())
loop.run_forever()
print("Pending tasks at exit: %s" % asyncio.Task.all_tasks(loop))
loop.close()

Expected output:

(1) create file
(2) write into file
(3) close file
Pending tasks at exit: set()

Actual output:

(3) close file
(2) write into file
Pending tasks at exit: {Task(<create>)<PENDING>}

The loop stopped before the create() finished, close() has been called before write(), whereas coroutine functions were called in this order: create(), write(), close().

To fix the example, tasks must be marked with yield from:

@asyncio.coroutine
def test():
    yield from asyncio.async(create())
    yield from asyncio.async(write())
    yield from asyncio.async(close())
    yield from asyncio.sleep(2.0)
    loop.stop()

Or without asyncio.async():

@asyncio.coroutine
def test():
    yield from create()
    yield from write()
    yield from close()
    yield from asyncio.sleep(2.0)
    loop.stop()