jsfbp

JavaScript Implementation of FBP - no longer supported. Please take a copy by Oct. 1, 2021 if you need one!

General web site on Flow-Based Programming: https://jpaulm.github.io/fbp/ .

"Classical" FBP "green thread" implementation written in JavaScript, using Node-Fibers - https://github.com/laverdet/node-fibers.

JSFBP takes advantage of JavaScript's concept of functions as first-degree objects to allow applications to be built using "green threads". JSFBP makes use of an internal "Future Events Queue" which supports the green threads, and provides quite good performance (see below) - the JavaScript events queue is only used for JavaScript asynchronous functions, as before.

JSFBP is no longer supported, as Node-Fibers is being discontinued (I assume early 2021). Here is the relevant quote from https://github.com/laverdet/node-fibers :

"The author of this project recommends you avoid its use if possible. The original version of this module targeted nodejs v0.1.x in early 2011 when JavaScript on the server looked a lot different. Since then async/await, Promises, and Generators were standardized and the ecosystem as a whole has moved in that direction."

Installing Fibers

As suggested in https://github.com/laverdet/node-fibers/issues/new , make sure your version of nodejs is an even one.

Go into command mode, and enter npm install fibers.

If this command has trouble finding Python, install Python 2.7.10, then run npm --add-python-to-path='true' --debug install --global windows-build-tools. Don't know if this is still necessary!

General

To run test cases, position in your command shell to GitHub/jsfbp and type in node examples/fbptestxx, where xx is the test case number.

Test cases so far:

• fbptest01 - 3 processes:
  • gendata (generates ascending numeric values)
  • copier (copies)
  • recvr (displays incoming values to console)

• fbptest02 - gendata replaced with reader
• fbptest03 - gendata and reader both feeding into copier.IN
• fbptest04 - gendata feeding repl which sends 3 copies of input IP (as specified in network), each copy going to a separate element of array port OUT; all 3 copies then feeding into recvr.IN
• fbptest05 - Two copies of reader running concurrently, one feeds directly into rrmerge ("round robin" merge) input port element 0; other one into copier and then into rrmerge input port element 1; from rrmerge.OUT to recvr.IN
• fbptest06 - The output streams of the repl (in fbptest04) are fed to the input array port of rrmerge, and from its OUT to recvr.IN
• fbptest07 - Creates a deadlock condition - the status of each Process is displayed
• fbptest08 - reads text, reverses it twice and outputs it
• fbptest09 - copier in fbptest01 is replaced with a version of copier which terminates prematurely and closes its input port, bringing the network down (ungracefully!)
• fbptest10 - copier in fbptest01 is replaced with a non-looping version of copier
• fbptest11 - Load balancer (lbal) feeding 3 instances of a random delay component (randdelay)

• fbptest12 - reader OUT -> IN copier OUT -> IN writer
• fbptest13 - Simple network to demonstrate functioning of random delay component (randdelay)
• fbptest14 - Network demonstrating parallelism using two instances of reader and two fixed delay components (delay)
• fbptestvl - Volume test (see below): gendata -> copier -> discard
• testsubstreamsensitivesplitting.js - Test substream-sensitive logic in lbal, feeding substreamsensitivemerge.js

"Update" networks

• update - "Update" run, demonstrating use of collate.js
• update_c - Same as update.js but routing output to a compare process, rather than to display

The following diagram shows update and update_c in one diagram using the DrawFBP Enclosure function - this is not really a valid DrawFBP diagram, so no port names are shown:

Here is update_c by itself, with component and port names marked in - it contains all the information needed to generate a running JSFBP network (the file and report icons do not generate any code):

WebSockets

• fbptestws - Schematic web socket server (simple Process shown can be replaced by any structure of Processes, provided interfaces are adhered to)

Some of these have tracing set on, depending on what testing was being done when they were promoted!

These tests (except for fbptestws) can be run sequentially by running fbptests.bat.

Components

• breader - reads from a binary file specified by FILE IIP and sends one IP per byte in the file. Starts sending IPs as soon as first byte is read.

• bwriter - takes a stream of IPs containing bytes and writes them to a file from its FILE IIP. Starts writing as soon as the first IP comes in.

• collate - collates from 1 to any number of sorted input streams, generating merged stream with bracket IPs inserted (sort fields assumed to be contiguous starting at 1st byte; all streams assumed to be sorted on same fields, in ascending sequence)

• concat - concatenates all the streams that are sent to its array input port (size determined in network definition)

• copier - copies its input stream to its output stream

• copier_closing - forces close of input port after 20 IPs

• copier_nonlooper - same as copier, except that it is written as a non-looper (it has been modified to call the FBP services from lower in the process's stack)

• discard - discard (drop) all incoming IPs

• display - display all incoming IPs, including bracket IPs

• gendata - sends as many IPs to its output port as are specified by its COUNT IIP (each just contains the current count)

• lbal - load balancer - sends output to output port array element with smallest number of IPs in transit

• randdelay - sends incoming IPs to output port after random number of millisecs (between 0 and 400)

• reader - does an asynchronous read on the file specified by its FILE IIP

• recvr - receives its incoming stream and displays the contents on the console

• repl - replicates the incoming IPs to the streams specified by an array output port (it does not handle tree structures)

• reverse - reverses the string contained in each incoming IP

• rrmerge - "round robin" merge

• substreamsensitivemerge.js - merges multiple input streams, but keeps IPs in correct sequence within each substream, although sequence of substreams is not guaranteed

• writer - does an asynchronous write to the file specified by its FILE IIP

• wsrecv - general web socket "receive" component for web socket server - outputs substream

• wsresp - general web socket "respond" component sending data from web socket server to client - takes substream as input

• wssimproc - "simulated" processing for web socket server - actually just outputs 3 names

API

For application developers

Networks can be generated programmatically or by loading in an FBP file.

Programmatically

1. Get access to JSFBP: var fbp = require('fbp')
2. Create a new network: var network = new fbp.Network();
3. Define your network:

• Add processes: network.defProc(...) Note: when several processes use the same component, defProc takes the process name as a second argument.
• Connect output ports to input ports: network.connect(...)
• Specify IIPs: network.initialize(...)

4. Create a new runtime: var fiberRuntime = new fbp.FiberRuntime();
5. Run it!

network.run(fiberRuntime, {trace: true/false}, function success() {
    console.log("Finished!");
  });

Via an FBP file

1. Generate an .fbp file that complies with the specification under parsefbp.
2. Get access to JSFBP: var fbp = require('fbp')
3. Load the contents of the .fbp file into a String: fs.readFile(__dirname + '/network.fbp' ...);
4. Create a new network: var network = new fbp.Network.createFromGraph(fileContents); If you're using components that are local to your application, use a second parameter giving the directory that contains your components.
5. Create a new runtime: var fiberRuntime = new fbp.FiberRuntime();
6. Run it!

network.run(fiberRuntime, {trace: true/false}, function success() {
  console.log("Finished!");
});

Activating trace can be desired in debugging scenarios.

Useful methods

• Network#defProc(component[, name]) Creates a process from a component, defined by the first parameter.

• The first parameter can be a function or a string. When a string is used, the component is loaded according to three possibilities:

  • If the component string starts with './' then the component is assumed to be one of he JSFBP components and is loaded. For example: './components/copier.js'
  • If the component string starts with '/' then the component is assumed to be local to the application. If your network has local components, then the network needs to have been instantiated with a { componentRoot: 'dir' } object so that it knows where to find the components.
  • If the component string contains a /, then it is assumed to be of the form 'package/component'. Thus package is loaded and then component is retrieved from it. If package is 'jsfbp', then it is loaded from the JSFBP components directory.
  • Otherwise, the string is assumed to be a node module that is an FBP component and it is simply loaded via require.

• The second parameter is an optional name for the Process. If not provided, it will be inferred from the component.

For component developers

Component headers: 'use strict';

In most cases you do not need to require() any JSFBP-related scripts or libraries as a component developer. Everything you need is injected into the component's function as its context this (the process object) and as a parameter (the runtime object). Some utility functions are stored in core/utils.js. Import them if you really need them. You should generally refrain from accessing runtime-related code (e.g. Fibers) to ensure the greatest compatibility.

Component services

• In what follows, the this is only valid if the function is called from the component level; if called from a subroutine, pass in this as a parameter.

• var ip = this.createIP(contents); - create an IP containing contents

• var ip = this.createIPBracket(this.IPTypes.OPEN|this.IPTypes.CLOSE[, contents]) - create an open or close bracket IP

• Be sure to include IP: var IP = require('IP') to gain access to the IP constants.

• this.dropIP(ip); - drop IP

• var inport = this.openInputPort('IN'); - create InputPort variable

• var array = this.openInputPortArray('IN'); - create input array port array

• var outport = this.openOutputPort('OUT'); - create OutputPort variable

• var array = this.openOutputPortArray('OUT'); - create output array port array

• var ip = inport.receive(); - returns null if end of stream

• var ip = array[i].receive(); - receive to element of port array

• outport.send(ip); - returns -1 if send unable to deliver

• array[i].send(ip); - send from element of port array

• inport.close(); - close input port (or array port element)

• runtime.runAsyncCallback() - used when doing asynchronous I/O in component; when using this function, include runtime in component header, e.g. module.exports = function xxx(runtime) { ...

Example:

runtime.runAsyncCallback(function (done) {
  // your asynchronous
  ...
  // call done (possibly asynchronously) when you're done!
  done();
});

• Utils.getElementWithSmallestBacklog(array); - used by lbal - not for general use

• Be sure to include Utils: var Utils = require('core/utils').

• Utils.findInputPortElementWithData(array); - used by substreamsensitivemerge - not for general use

• Be sure to include Utils: var Utils = require('core/utils').

Install & Run

We use node-fibers which is known to work with Node.js 10.16.0 (as of 25.07.2019).

1. Install Node.js

2. Clone or download this project

3. Execute npm install

   If you get an MSB4019 or similar error messages involving utf-8-validate and bufferutil (some dependencies deep down the dependency tree), you can just ignore them, given the optional nature of these components' compilation.

4. Run node examples/fbptestxx.js, where fbptestxx is any of the tests listed above. If tracing is desired, change the value of the trace variable at the bottom of fbptestxx.js to true.

5. All these tests can be run sequentially by running examples/fbptests.bat, or by running examples/fbptests.sh under bash.

Important - BitDefender Antivirus 2016 anti-ransomware feature seems to interfere with git- we suggest you leave it turned off while working with git.

Full install

If you wish to eliminate the errors mentioned in point #3 under Install, you will need to install Python 2.x and Visual Studio Express for Desktop 2013. This doesn't seem to guarantee an error-free npm install, however. Still jsfbp works fine, even with these errors.

1. Install Node.js
2. Install Python 2.x
3. Install Visual Studio Express for Desktop 2013 (click on http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=532500&clcid=0x409 )
4. Clone or download this project
5. Open a new shell (The shell should not have been opened from before the Visual Studio installation because then the PATH and other environment variables are not yet updated.)
6. Optionally prepend Python 2.x to your PATH if you haven't already done so - e.g. SET PATH=C:\path\to\python2-directory\;%PATH%
7. Execute npm install
8. Run node examples/fbptestxx.js, where fbptestxx is any of the tests listed above. If tracing is desired, change the value of the trace variable at the bottom of fbptestxx.js to true.
9. Install requires the following npm packages: parsefbp, fibers, mocha, chai, lodash and mocha-fibers - you may have to do npm installs for some or all of these.
10. All these tests can be run sequentially by running examples/fbptests.bat, or by running examples/fbptests.sh under bash.

Important - BitDefender Antivirus 2016 anti-ransomware feature seems to interfere with git- we suggest you leave it turned off while working with git.

Testing with Mocha

The folder called test contains a number of Mocha tests.

1. Run npm test to execute a series of tests (all the fbptestxx.js tests in sequence).
2. Alternatively, you can directly execute node ./node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha --recursive --require test/test_helper.js in case you need to adjust the path to Node's binary or pass further parameters to Mocha.

Testing Sample HTTP Server

Run node examples/httpserver/fbphttpserver.js, which is a simple HTTP server which is similar to the one in the sample at: http://blog.modulus.io/build-your-first-http-server-in-nodejs

NOTE: The HTTP server components are currently all custom components, based on the components used in the simple web socket chat server described below.

Testing Simple Web Socket Chat Server

Run node examples/websocketchat/fbptestwschat.js, which is a simple web socket chat server which responds to any request by broadcasting it to all connected clients. It is similar to the chat sample at: http://socket.io/get-started/chat/ except for serving the client HTML.

examples/websocketchat/index.html is intended as a simple chat client for testing with fbptestwschat.js. If Firefox doesn't work for you, Chrome and Safari will work.

Just enter any string into the input field, and click on Send, and it will broadcast it to all clients that are connected.

Click on the Stop WS button, and the network will come down.

Tracing

Here is a sample section of the trace output for fbptest08.js:

recvr recv OK: externally to the processes. These black box processes can be rec
onnected endlessly
data: externally to the processes. These black box processes can be reconnected
endlessly
recvr IP dropped with: externally to the processes. These black box processes ca
n be reconnected endlessly
recvr recv from recvr.IN
Yield/return: state of future events queue:
- reverse2 - status: ACTIVE
---
---
reverse2 send OK
reverse2 IP dropped with:  si PBF .yllanretni degnahc eb ot gnivah tuohtiw snoit
acilppa tnereffid mrof ot
reverse2 recv from reverse2.IN
reverse2 recv OK: .detneiro-tnenopmoc yllarutan suht
reverse2 send to reverse2.OUT: thus naturally component-oriented.
Yield/return: state of future events queue:
- recvr - status: ACTIVE
---
---
recvr recv OK: to form different applications without having to be changed inter
nally. FBP is

Performance

The volume test case (fbptestvl) with 100,000,000 IPs running through three processes took 164 seconds, on my machine which has 4 AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 925 processors.

Since there are two connections, giving a total of 200,000,000 send/receive pairs, this works out to approx. 0.82 microsecs per send/receive pair. Of course, as it is JavaScript, this test only uses 1 core intensively, although there is some matching activity on the other cores (why...?!)