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Controlling Python Async Creep

Python added formal asynchronicity in the base language a while ago. It’s fun to play with asyncio tasks and coroutines, the basic constructs that execute almost in parallel. But as you start to integrate more with a regular codebase, you may find that things can get tricky. Especially if you’re forced to interact with synchronous code.

The complication arises when invoking awaitable functions. Doing so requires an async defined code block or coroutine. A non-issue except that if your caller has to be async, then you can’t call it either unless its caller is async. Which then forces its caller into an async block as well, and so on. This is “async creep”.

Threaded Asynchronous Magic and How to Wield It

Ok let’s face it. Clock speeds no longer govern the pace at which computer processors improve. Instead we see increased transistor density and higher core counts. Translating to software terms, this means that code won’t run faster, but more of it can run in parallel.

Although making good use of our new-found silicon real estate requires improvements in software, a lot of programming languages have already started down this path by adding features that help with parallel execution. In fact, they’ve been there for years waiting for us to take advantage.

So why don’t we? A good engineer always has an ear to the ground, listening for the latest trends in his industry, so let’s take a look at what Python is building for us.