An Introduction to Asynchronous Python

Josh Finnie

Started at Indigo in May
I am working on the Cerberus Squad
Have been coding Python for 10+ years
Current obsession is Fountain Pens!

Outline

Let's talk about the Global Interpreter Lock
Live asynchronous coding!
What is Asyncio and why I recommend it?
Asyncio Glossary of terms
Drawbacks of Asyncio and async programming

Asynchronous Python

Python - the GIL

What is the GIL

The Python Global Interpreter Lock or GIL is a mutex that allows only one thread to hold the control of the Python interpreter.
It's a Python-specific specification that has been around since the beginning.
It protects the internals of the Python interpreter from concurrent access and modification from multiple threads.

https://realpython.com/python-gil/

Does this block us?

Yes and No...
Threading and Asyncio still runs on a single thread.
They just cheat a bit.

So There's hope!

Implementations to
"get around" the GIL

The GIL Busters

Threading
Asyncio
Multiprocessing

LIVE CODING!

The Menu

Normal IO Bound Function
Async IO Bound Function
Threaded IO Bound Function
Multi-Processed IO Bound Function
Normal CPU Bound Function
Threaded CPU Bound Function
Multi-Processed CPU Bound Function
Asyncio CPU Bound Function

Default

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import time

times = 0

def my_func():
    global times
    while times < 10:
        times += 1
        time.sleep(1)
        print(f'Number of times: {times}')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = time.perf_counter()
    my_func()
    elapsed = time.perf_counter() - s
    print(f"{__file__} executed in {elapsed:0.2f} seconds.")

Threading

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import threading
import time

times = 0

def my_func():
    #this is the same


if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = time.perf_counter()
    thread1 = threading.Thread(target=my_func, name='Thread 1')
    thread2 = threading.Thread(target=my_func, name='Thread 2')

    thread1.start()
    thread2.start()
    thread1.join()
    thread2.join()
    elapsed = time.perf_counter() - s
    print(f"{__file__} executed in {elapsed:0.2f} seconds.")

Multiprocessing

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import multiprocessing as mp
import time

times = 0

def my_func():
    global times
    while times < 10:
        times += 1
        time.sleep(1)
        print(f'Number of times: {times}\n    Added by: {__name__}')
    
    
if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = time.perf_counter()
    mp1 = mp.Process(target=my_func)
    mp2 = mp.Process(target=my_func)
    
    mp1.start()
    mp2.start()
    mp1.join()
    mp2.join()
    elapsed = time.perf_counter() - s
    print(f"{__file__} executed in {elapsed:0.2f} seconds.")

Asyncio

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import asyncio
import time

times = 0

async def my_func():
    global times
    name = __name__
    while times < 10:
        times += 1
        await asyncio.sleep(1)
        print(f'Number of times: {times}\n    Added by: {name}')


async def main():
    await asyncio.gather(my_func(), my_func())

if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = time.perf_counter()
    asyncio.run(main())
    elapsed = time.perf_counter() - s
    print(f"{__file__} executed in {elapsed:0.2f} seconds.")

Results

$ python3 default.py
default.py executed in 10.03 seconds.

$ python3 threading.py
threading.py executed in 5.03 seconds.

$ python3 mp.py
mp.py executed in 10.09 seconds. *

$ python3 async.py
async.py executed in 5.01 seconds.

Note: the Multiprocessing application looks like it took just as long as the normal application. This is because multiprocessing applications are more difficult to write (especially when dealing with read/write applications) and it was actually doing double the work!

Asyncio

This is a wonderful tool!

History

Asyncio was introduced in Python 3.4
Really hit its stride in Python 3.7
Introduced the async/await keywords to the language
It is the best practice for asynchronous python

"Use asyncio first, threading if you have to!"

The Event Loop

https://medium.com/@gauravbaliyan/a-good-use-of-asyncio-in-python-and-django-8aa7bc401e5f

Reasons to use Asyncio

To Start Async Programming

We want to move to asynchronous programming
- task-based development
- 3rd party async libraries

Partner Tasks

async def _fetch():
    for _ in range(0, 3):
        try:
            return await PartnerApi.ping()
        except Exception as e:
            logger.warning(f"Error: {e} Retrying...")
            await asyncio.sleep(0.5)
    return Exception(f"Failed multiple times. See warning logs for reason")


def ingest():
    loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
    asyncio.set_event_loop(loop)
    response = loop.run_until_complete(_fetch())
    
    if isinstance(response, Exception):
      raise
    
    return "Done"

To Remove Complexity

We want to move away from the more complex threading/multiprocessing code.
Less to manage, which allows for less errors.
Asyncio is lightweight

async_task

def async_task(func: Callable):
    """
    Decorate an asychronous method to be used with celery.
    Requires the use of `start_background_event_loop`.
    Converts the method to a synchronous function that dispatches
    the asynchronous coroutine in an event loop running in a different thread.
    See: https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe
    Waits on the result and reraise any exceptions.
    """
    @wraps(func)
    def wrapper(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any):
        loop = local.loop
        # Lower level concurrent programming object - concurrent.futures
        # https://docs.python.org/3/library/concurrent.futures.html
        future = asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(
          func(*args, **kwargs),
          loop=loop
        )

        return future.result()

    wrapper._wrapped = func
    return wrapper

To Use Non-Blocking IO

We want to stop blocking programming on IO.
As we heard with Ben's talk, Internet calls and Database calls can (and will) be slow.
We don't necessarily have to block our entire program waiting for IO calls.

Partner API

import aiohttp

class PartnerClient:
  async def get(self, path, headers=None):
    async with aiohttp.ClientSession(headers=self._headers()) as session:
       return await session.get(path, headers=headers)

async def ping(cls) -> bool:
    response = await PartnerClient().get(BASE_URL.replace("v1", "ping"))

    if response.status != 200:
        logger.warning(
           f'Partner returned code {response.status},
             content {await response.content.read()}'
        )
        return False

    return True

https://pypi.org/project/aiohttp/

Asyncio

Glossary

asyncio.run()

import asyncio

async def add(a, b):
  return a + b

asyncio.run(add(1, 2))

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-runner.html#asyncio.run

asyncio.get_event_loop()

import asyncio

async def add(a, b):
  return a + b

# Reference to the async loop
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()

# Can use it multiple times
result = loop.run_until_complete(add(3, 4))
result2 = loop.run_until_complete(add(5, 6))

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-eventloop.html#asyncio.get_event_loop

asyncio.Runner()

import asyncio

async def main():
    await asyncio.sleep(1)
    print('hello')

with asyncio.Runner() as runner:
    # Running functions in a Context gives your more control
    print(runner.getloop())
    runner.run(main())

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#id6

asyncio.gather()

import asyncio

async def add(a, b):
  return a + b

async def multi_add(a, b, c):
  # Runs these concurrently
  await asyncio.gather(
    add(a, b),
    abb(b, c),
    add(a, c),
  )

asyncio.run(multi_add(1, 3, 5))

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#asyncio.gather

asyncio.sleep()

import asyncio

async def main():
    print('hello')
    
    # This is different than time.sleep(1). Can be awaited!
    await asyncio.sleep(1)
    
    print('world')

asyncio.run(main())

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#id6

asyncio.wait()

import asyncio

async def main():
    # gives us insight into long running tasks!
    done, pending = await asyncio.wait(long_running_task())
    
    # create many copies of your task
    tasks = [asyncio.create_task(long_running_task(i)) for i in range(10)]
    # wait for the first task to be completed
    done, pending = await asyncio.wait(
      tasks,
      return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED
    )
    # wait for the first task to failed
    done, pending = await asyncio.wait(
      tasks,
      return_when=asyncio.FIRST_EXCEPTION
    )

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#asyncio.wait

asyncio.timeout()

import asyncio

async def main():
    # will wait at most 10 seconds!
    async with asyncio.timeout(10):
        await long_running_task()

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#asyncio.Timeout

asyncio.wait_for()

import asyncio

async def main():
    try:
        await asyncio.wait_for(long_running_task(), timeout=10)
    except TimeoutError:
        # Can now do something else!
        print('timeout!')

https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html#asyncio.wait_for

asyncio Gotchas

Complicates code
Hard to debug when in the event loop
Accidentally asyncing is bad
Pretty steep learning curve
Race conditions can pop up

Resources

https://superfastpython.com/python-asyncio/
https://realpython.com/async-io-python/
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/python-parallel-and-concurrent-programming-part-1/learn-parallel-programming-basics
https://www.bmc.com/blogs/asynchronous-programming/

Asynchronous Python

By Josh Finnie

Asynchronous Python

Josh Finnie PRO

Full stack staff engineer. Lives in the DMV.

joshfinnie.com

An Introduction to Asynchronous Python

Josh Finnie

Outline

Asynchronous Python

Python - the GIL

What is the GIL

Does this block us?

So There's hope!

Implementations to "get around" the GIL

The GIL Busters

LIVE CODING!

Default

Threading

Multiprocessing

Asyncio

Results

Asyncio

This is a wonderful tool!

History

The Event Loop

Reasons to use Asyncio

To Start Async Programming

Partner Tasks

To Remove Complexity

async_task

To Use Non-Blocking IO

Partner API

Asyncio

Glossary

asyncio.run()

asyncio.get_event_loop()

asyncio.Runner()

asyncio.gather()

asyncio.sleep()

asyncio.wait()

asyncio.timeout()

asyncio.wait_for()

asyncio Gotchas

Resources

Asynchronous Python

More from Josh Finnie

Implementations to
"get around" the GIL