Communicating generators in Javascript

Abstract

This paper outlines the design, performance, and use of an application programming interface and library for concurrent programming with CSP in JavaScript. The implementation harnesses ECMAScript 6 Generators to provide cooperative scheduling and channel communication within a single JavaScript engine. External channels lie atop WebSockets, amongst other web technologies, to enable multicore and distributed execution across standard web browsers and Node.js servers. Low-level benchmarks indicate that scheduling and messaging performance is within expectations for this dynamic and diverse execution environment. Sample code snippets highlight the applicability of CSP to contemporary web development in hiding the location of computation and state through the channel abstraction. The ”callback hell” scenario common to many JavaScript applications is alleviated by using channels instead of callbacks, and the possibility of performing parallel and scientific computing is explored with promising results. Finally, the limitations of the present design are discussed, and possible enhancements such as the dynamic migration of state and code are considered.