[Python-Dev] Making Queue.Queue easier to use

[Nick Coghlan]

The multi-processing discussion reminded me that I have a few problems I run 
into every time I try to use Queue objects.

My first problem is finding it:

Py> from threading import Queue # Nope
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ImportError: cannot import name Queue
Py> from Queue import Queue # Ah, there it is

What do people think of the idea of adding an alias to Queue into the 
threading module so that:
    a) the first line above works; and
    b) Queue can be documented with all of the other threading primitives,
       rather than being off somewhere else in its own top-level section.

My second problem is with the current signatures of the put() and get() 
methods. Specifically, the following code blocks forever instead of raising an 
Empty exception after 500 milliseconds as one might expect:
   from Queue import Queue
   x = Queue()
   x.get(0.5)

I assume the current signature is there for backward compatibility with the 
original version that didn't support timeouts (considering the difficulty of 
telling the difference between "x.get(1)" and "True = 1; x.get(True)" from 
inside the get() method)

However, the need to write "x.get(True, 0.5)" seems seriously redundant, given 
that a single paramater can actually handle all the options (as is currently 
the case with Condition.wait()).

The "put_nowait" and "get_nowait" functions are fine, because they serve a 
useful documentation purpose at the calling point (particularly given the 
current clumsy timeout signature).

What do people think of the idea of adding "put_wait" and "get_wait" methods 
with the signatures:
   put_wait(item,[timeout=None)
   get_wait([timeout=None])

Optionally, the existing "put" and "get" methods could be deprecated, with the 
goal of eventually changing their signature to match the put_wait and get_wait 
methods above.

If people are amenable to these ideas, I should be able to work up a patch for 
them this week.

Regards,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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             http://boredomandlaziness.blogspot.com