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Subject: 
Re: events or infinite loops... which is better?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Sat, 12 Oct 2002 04:50:51 GMT
Viewed: 
2449 times
  
In article <H3u6HL.694@lugnet.com>,
"Rob Stehlik" <Robbby31@hotmail.com> wrote:

> So, are these two methods essentially equivalent? I realize you can 'do
> something else' with the first method by having your infinite loop in one
> task, and work on something else in another task. But, you are really just
> jumping between tasks quickly. If events are actually interrupts, then I
> think it would be more efficient this way, since the cpu can spend its time
> doing other things, and only pauses when the interrupt line is triggered.
> Can anyone more knowledgable offer some feedback on this?
> Rob

Events are generally going to be more efficient since no bytecodes need
to be executed to continually check for a condition.  However,
efficiency is not always the most important factor.  I don't think
either one is necessarily "better".  A lot depends on what you are
trying to do.  Let's say you want to repeatedly do activity A while
waiting for condition B and then execute C in response.

Using conditions...

while(!B)
{
  A();
}
C();

A() will always run to completion.  This can be convenient if A() has
several steps to it and you want all step to be completed.


Using events...

monitor(B)
{
  while(true) {
    A();
  }
}
C();

A() can be interrupted half way through.  This can be convenient if A()
is going to take a while and you want to respond to B very quickly.

I use both mechanisms in my own programming.

Dave



Message is in Reply To:
  events or infinite loops... which is better?
 
Hi Everyone, I just recently learned how to use event monitoring, and I really like it. My question is whether or not this method is more efficient than infinite loops. I always used to check for sensor readings using an infinite loop something like (...) (24 years ago, 11-Oct-02, to lugnet.robotics)

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