How do you implement Coroutines in C++

Question

I doubt it can be done portably, but are there any solutions out there? I think it could be done by creating an alternate stack and reseting SP,BP, and IP on function entry

Answer 1

Based on macros as well (Duff's device, fully portable, see http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/coroutines.html ) and inspired by the link posted by Mark, the following emulates co-processes collaborating using events as synchronization mechanism (slightly different model than the traditional co-routines/generator style)

// Coprocess.h
#pragma once
#include 

class Coprocess {
  public:
    Coprocess() : line_(0) {}
    void start() { line_ =  0; run(); }
    void end()   { line_ = -1; on_end(); }
    virtual void run() = 0;
    virtual void on_end() {}; 
  protected:
    int line_;
};

class Event {
  public:
    Event() : curr_(0) {}

    void wait(Coprocess* p) { waiters_[curr_].push_back(p); }

    void notify() {
        Waiters& old = waiters_[curr_];
        curr_ = 1 - curr_; // move to next ping/pong set of waiters
        waiters_[curr_].clear();
        for (Waiters::const_iterator I=old.begin(), E=old.end(); I != E; ++I)
            (*I)->run();
    }   
  private:
    typedef std::vector Waiters;
    int curr_;
    Waiters waiters_[2];
};

#define corun()   run() { switch(line_) { case 0:
#define cowait(e) line_=__LINE__; e.wait(this); return; case __LINE__:
#define coend     default:; }} void on_end()

An example of use:

// main.cpp
#include "Coprocess.h"
#include 

Event e;
long sum=0;

struct Fa : public Coprocess {
    int n, i;
    Fa(int x=1) : n(x) {}
    void corun() {
        std::cout << i << " starts\n";
        for (i=0; ; i+=n) {
            cowait(e);
            sum += i;
        }
    } coend {
        std::cout << n << " ended " << i << std::endl;
    }   
};

int main() {
    // create 2 collaborating processes
    Fa f1(5);
    Fa f2(10);

    // start them
    f1.start();
    f2.start();
    for (int k=0; k<=100; k++) { 
        e.notify();
    }   
    // optional (only if need to restart them)
    f1.end();
    f2.end();

    f1.start(); // coprocesses can be restarted
    std::cout << "sum " << sum << "\n";
    return 0;
}