Blocking vs. Non-Blocking IO

Resources

• https://medium.com/coderscorner/tale-of-client-server-and-socket-a6ef54a74763
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/blocking-and-nonblocking-io-in-operating-system/

Blocking IO:

• Waits for operation to complete before returning control
• Simple to understand and program
• Can lead to inefficient resource use if not managed properly

# Blocking IO example
data = file.read()  # The thread will wait here until the read operation is complete.
process(data)  # This line will only execute after the file.read() operation has completed.

Non-blocking IO:

• Returns control immediately, operation continues in the background
• More complex to program due to need for callbacks or polling
• Enables efficient resource use, especially in high-load scenarios

# Non-blocking IO example
file.read(callback=process)  # Initiates a read operation and immediately returns control to the next line.
# Other code can execute now, while `file.read` is still ongoing.