Observables and Signals

A signal represents a value that changes over time. The signal is asynchronous and plural, like a stream. Unlike a stream, a signal can have multiple producers and consumers. The output side of a signal is an observable.

A signal has a getter side and a setter side. The asynchronous getter for a signal is an observable instead of a reader. The observable implements forEach, which subscribes an observer to receive push notifications whenever the signal value changes.

signal.out.forEach(function (value, time, signal) {
    console.log(value);
})

The signal generator is the asynchronous setter. Like a stream writer, it implements yield. However, unlike a stream writer, yield does not return a promise.

signal.in.yield(10);

Signals do not support pressure. Just as yield does not return a promise, the callback you give to forEach does not accept a promise. A signal can only push. The consumer (or consumers) cannot push back.

Observables also implement next, which returns an iteration that captures the most recently dispatched value. This allows us to poll a signal as if it were a behavior.

See the accompanying sketch of a observable implementation.

Just as streams relate to buffers, not every observable must be paired with a signal generator. A noteworthy example of an external observable is a clock. A clock emits a signal with the current time at a regular period and offset.

var tick = new Clock({period: 1000});
var tock = new Clock({period: 1000, offset: 500});
tick.forEach(function (time) {
    console.log("tick", time);
})
tock.forEach(function (time) {
    console.log("tock", time);
});

See the accompanying sketch of a clock implementation.

Signals may correspond to system or platform signals like keyboard or mouse input or other external sensors. Furthermore, a signal generator might dispatch a system level signal to another process, for example SIGHUP, which typically asks a daemon to reload its configuration.

daemon.signals.yield("SIGHUP");