Introducing Nexus.js: A multi-threaded JavaScript run-time
Tags: javascript, multithreading, server, nexusjs
Published: 2017-12-09 08:44:25

---
title: "Introducing Nexus.js: A multi-threaded JavaScript run-time"
published: true
description: "Also known as: the mad cousin of Node.js."
tags: javascript, multithreading, server, nexusjs
---

First of all, I recommend reading the [old series](https://medium.com/@voodooattack/multi-threaded-javascript-introduction-faba95d3bd06) if you're not familiar with this project. If you don't want to read all of that, no worries! I got you covered!

Now that that's out of the way, let us begin.

Last year I started implementing [Nexus.js](https://github.com/voodooattack/nexusjs), a multi-threaded server-side JavaScript run-time based on WebKit/JavaScriptCore. I dropped it for a while, due to [circumstances out of my control](https://medium.com/@voodooattack/concurrent-javascript-a-years-absence-ea5ae93d3b91) that I'm not going to discuss here, but here we are again: I couldn't keep myself from working on it for long.

***

So let us start by discussing the architecture of Nexus and how things work:

## Nexus.js Runtime

### Event Loop

* There is *no* event loop.
* There is a thread-pool with a (lock-free) task queue.
* Every time you call `setTimeout` or `setImmediate` or create a promise, a task is queued to the task queue.
* Every time a task is scheduled, the first available thread will pick the task and execute it.
* Promises resolve on all CPU cores. A call to `Promise.all()` will resolve the promises in parallel.

### ES6

* `async`/`await` is supported, and encouraged.
* `for await(...)` is supported.
* Destructuring is supported.
* async `try/catch/finally` is supported.

### Modules

* CommonJS is not supported. (`require(...)` and `module.exports`) 
* All modules use the ES6 `import/export` syntax.
* Dynamic importing is possible through `import('file-or-package').then(...)`.
* `import.meta` is supported. For example: `import.meta.filename` and `import.meta.dirname` to name a few.
* Bonus feature: you can import URLs directly from the source code.

Example:

```js
import { h } from 'https://unpkg.com/preact/dist/preact.esm.js';
```

### EventEmitter

* Nexus implements a promise-based EventEmitter class.
* Event handlers will be queued on all threads, and will execute in parallel.
* The result of `EventEmitter.emit(...)` is a promise that will resolve to an array of all values returned by the event handlers.

Example:

```js
class EmitterTest extends Nexus.EventEmitter {
  constructor() {
    super();
    for(let i = 0; i < 4; i++)
      this.on('test', value => { console.log(`fired test ${i}!`); console.inspect(value); });
    for(let i = 0; i < 4; i++)
      this.on('returns-a-value', v => `${v + i}`);
  }
}

const test = new EmitterTest();

async function start() {
  await test.emit('test', { payload: 'test 1' });
  console.log('first test done!');
  await test.emit('test', { payload: 'test 2' });
  console.log('second test done!');
  const values = await test.emit('returns-a-value', 10);
  console.log('third test done, returned values are:'); console.inspect(values);
}

start().catch(console.error);
```

## I/O
* All input/output is done through three primitives: the Device, the Filter and the Stream.
* All input/output primitives implement the `EventEmitter` class.
* To use a device, you construct a `ReadableStream` or `WritableStream` on top of it.
* To manipulate data, you add filters to your `ReadableStream` or `WritableStream`.
* Lastly, you use `source.pipe(...destinationStreams)` and then `await source.resume()` to process the data.
* All input/output operations are done using `ArrayBuffer` objects.
* Filters implement `process(buffer)` to handle the data.

Example: (Converts UTF8 to UTF16 with 4 separate outputs files)
```js
async function start() {
  const startTime = Date.now();
  try {
    const device = new Nexus.IO.FilePushDevice('enwik8');
    const stream = new Nexus.IO.ReadableStream(device);

    stream.pushFilter(new Nexus.IO.EncodingConversionFilter("UTF-8", "UTF-16LE"));

    const wstreams = [0,1,2,3]
      .map(i => new Nexus.IO.WritableStream(new Nexus.IO.FileSinkDevice('enwik16-' + i)));

    console.log('piping...');

    stream.pipe(...wstreams);

    console.log('streaming...');

    await stream.resume();

    await stream.close();

    await Promise.all(wstreams.map(stream => stream.close()));

    console.log(`finished in ${(Date.now() * startTime) / 1000} seconds!`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('An error occurred: ', e);
  }
}

start().catch(console.error);
```

### TCP/UDP

* Nexus.js provides an `Acceptor` class, responsible for binding addresses/ports and listening for connections.
* Every time a connection is received, the `connection` event is fired and provided with a `Socket` device.
* Each `Socket` instance is a bidirectional I/O device.
* You may use `ReadableStream` and `WritableStream` to manipulate the `Socket`.

Very basic example: (Writes 'Hello world!' to clients)

```js
const acceptor = new Nexus.Net.TCP.Acceptor();
let count = 0;

acceptor.on('connection', (socket, endpoint) => {
  const connId = count++;
  console.log(`connection #${connId} from ${endpoint.address}:${endpoint.port}`);
  const rstream = new Nexus.IO.ReadableStream(socket);
  const wstream = new Nexus.IO.WritableStream(socket);
  const buffer = new Uint8Array(13);
  const message = 'Hello World!\n';
  for(let i = 0; i < 13; i++)
    buffer[i] = message.charCodeAt(i);
  rstream.pushFilter(new Nexus.IO.UTF8StringFilter());
  rstream.on('data', buffer => console.log(`got message: ${buffer}`));
  rstream.resume().catch(e => console.log(`client #${connId} at ${endpoint.address}:${endpoint.port} disconnected!`));
  console.log(`sending greeting to #${connId}!`);
  wstream.write(buffer);
});

acceptor.bind('127.0.0.1', 10000);
acceptor.listen();

console.log('server ready');
```

### HTTP

* Nexus provides a `Nexus.Net.HTTP.Server` class that essentially inherits `TCPAcceptor`.
* Same basic interface.
* When the server finishes parsing/validating the basic HTTP headers of an incoming connection, the `connection` event is fired with the connection and peer information.
* Every `Connection` instance has a `request` and a `response`. Those are input/output devices.
* You may construct `ReadableStream` and `WritableStream` to manipulate the request/response.
* If you pipe to a `Response` object, the streams enter chunked-encoding mode. Otherwise, you may use `response.write()` to write a regular string payload.

Complex example: (Baseline HTTP server with Chunked encoding, details omitted)

```js

....


/**
 * Creates an input stream from a path.
 * @param path
 * @returns {Promise<ReadableStream>}
 */
async function createInputStream(path) {
  if (path.startsWith('/')) // If it starts with '/', omit it.
    path = path.substr(1);
  if (path.startsWith('.')) // If it starts with '.', reject it.
    throw new NotFoundError(path);
  if (path === '/' || !path) // If it's empty, set to index.html.
    path = 'index.html';
  /**
   * `import.meta.dirname` and `import.meta.filename` replace the old CommonJS `__dirname` and `__filename`.
   */
  const filePath = Nexus.FileSystem.join(import.meta.dirname, 'server_root', path);
  try {
    // Stat the target path.
    const {type} = await Nexus.FileSystem.stat(filePath);
    if (type === Nexus.FileSystem.FileType.Directory) // If it's a directory, return its 'index.html'
      return createInputStream(Nexus.FileSystem.join(filePath, 'index.html'));
    else if (type === Nexus.FileSystem.FileType.Unknown || type === Nexus.FileSystem.FileType.NotFound)
      // If it's not found, throw NotFound.
      throw new NotFoundError(path);
  } catch(e) {
    if (e.code)
      throw e;
    throw new NotFoundError(path);
  }
  try {
    // First, we create a device.
    const fileDevice = new Nexus.IO.FilePushDevice(filePath);
    // Then we return a new ReadableStream created using our source device.
    return new Nexus.IO.ReadableStream(fileDevice);
  } catch(e) {
    throw new InternalServerError(e.message);
  }
}

/**
 * Connections counter.
 */
let connections = 0;

/**
 * Create a new HTTP server.
 * @type {Nexus.Net.HTTP.Server}
 */
const server = new Nexus.Net.HTTP.Server();

// A server error means an error occurred while the server was listening to connections.
// We can mostly ignore such errors, we display them anyway.
server.on('error', e => {
  console.error(FgRed + Bright + 'Server Error: ' + e.message + '\n' + e.stack, Reset);
});

/**
 * Listen to connections.
 */
server.on('connection', async (connection, peer) => {
  // Start with a connection ID of 0, increment with every new connection.
  const connId = connections++;
  // Record the start time for this connection.
  const startTime = Date.now();
  // Destructuring is supported, why not use it?
  const { request, response } = connection;
  // Parse the URL parts.
  const { path } = parseURL(request.url);
  // Here we'll store any errors that occur during the connection.
  const errors = [];
  // inStream is our ReadableStream file source, outStream is our response (device) wrapped in a WritableStream.
  let inStream, outStream;
  try {
    // Log the request.
    console.log(`> #${FgCyan + connId + Reset} ${Bright + peer.address}:${peer.port + Reset} ${
      FgGreen + request.method + Reset} "${FgYellow}${path}${Reset}"`, Reset);
    // Set the 'Server' header.
    response.set('Server', `nexus.js/0.1.1`);
    // Create our input stream.
    inStream = await createInputStream(path);
    // Create our output stream.
    outStream = new Nexus.IO.WritableStream(response);
    // Hook all `error` events, add any errors to our `errors` array.
    inStream.on('error', e => { errors.push(e); });
    request.on('error', e => { errors.push(e); });
    response.on('error', e => { errors.push(e); });
    outStream.on('error', e => { errors.push(e); });
    // Set content type and request status.
    response
      .set('Content-Type', mimeType(path))
      .status(200);
    // Hook input to output(s).
    const disconnect = inStream.pipe(outStream);
    try {
      // Resume our file stream, this causes the stream to switch to HTTP chunked encoding.
      // This will return a promise that will only resolve after the last byte (HTTP chunk) is written.
      await inStream.resume();
    } catch (e) {
      // Capture any errors that happen during the streaming.
      errors.push(e);
    }
    // Disconnect all the callbacks created by `.pipe()`.
    return disconnect();
  } catch(e) {
    // If an error occurred, push it to the array.
    errors.push(e);
    // Set the content type, status, and write a basic message.
    response
      .set('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
      .status(e.code || 500)
      .send(e.message || 'An error has occurred.');
  } finally {
    // Close the streams manually. This is important because we may run out of file handles otherwise.
    if (inStream)
      await inStream.close();
    if (outStream)
      await outStream.close();
    // Close the connection, has no real effect with keep-alive connections.
    await connection.close();
    // Grab the response's status.
    let status = response.status();
    // Determine what colour to output to the terminal.
    const statusColors = {
      '200': Bright + FgGreen, // Green for 200 (OK),
      '404': Bright + FgYellow, // Yellow for 404 (Not Found)
      '500': Bright + FgRed // Red for 500 (Internal Server Error)
    };
    let statusColor = statusColors[status];
    if (statusColor)
      status = statusColor + status + Reset;
    // Log the connection (and time to complete) to the console.
    console.log(`< #${FgCyan + connId + Reset} ${Bright + peer.address}:${peer.port + Reset} ${
      FgGreen + request.method + Reset} "${FgYellow}${path}${Reset}" ${status} ${(Date.now() * startTime)}ms` +
      (errors.length ? " " + FgRed + Bright + errors.map(error => error.message).join(', ') + Reset : Reset));
  }
});

/**
 * IP and port to listen on.
 */
const ip = '0.0.0.0', port = 3000;
/**
 * Whether or not to set the `reuse` flag. (optional, default=false)
 */
const portReuse = true;
/**
 * Maximum allowed concurrent connections. Default is 128 on my system. (optional, system specific)
 * @type {number}
 */
const maxConcurrentConnections = 1000;
/**
 * Bind the selected address and port.
 */
server.bind(ip, port, portReuse);
/**
 * Start listening to requests.
 */
server.listen(maxConcurrentConnections);
/**
 * Happy streaming!
 */
console.log(FgGreen + `Nexus.js HTTP server listening at ${ip}:${port}` + Reset);
```

## Benchmark

I think I've covered almost everything I've implemented so far. So now, let's talk about performance.

Here's the current benchmark for the above HTTP server, with 100 concurrent connections and a total of 10,000 requests:

``` 
This is ApacheBench, Version 2.3 <$Revision: 1796539 $>
Copyright 1996 Adam Twiss, Zeus Technology Ltd, http://www.zeustech.net/
Licensed to The Apache Software Foundation, http://www.apache.org/

Benchmarking localhost (be patient).....done


Server Software:        nexus.js/0.1.1
Server Hostname:        localhost
Server Port:            3000

Document Path:          /
Document Length:        8673 bytes

Concurrency Level:      100
Time taken for tests:   9.991 seconds
Complete requests:      10000
Failed requests:        0
Total transferred:      87880000 bytes
HTML transferred:       86730000 bytes
Requests per second:    1000.94 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       99.906 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       0.999 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          8590.14 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connection Times (ms)
              min  mean[+/-sd] median   max
Connect:        0    0   0.1      0       1
Processing:     6   99  36.6     84     464
Waiting:        5   99  36.4     84     463
Total:          6  100  36.6     84     464

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
  50%     84
  66%     97
  75%    105
  80%    112
  90%    134
  95%    188
  98%    233
  99%    238
 100%    464 (longest request)
```

That's **1,000** requests per second! On an old i7 that's running both the benchmark software, an IDE consuming 5GB of RAM, *and* the server itself!

```
voodooattack@voodooattack:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 60
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0x22
cpu MHz		: 3392.093
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 13
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm cpuid_fault tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts
bugs		:
bogomips	: 6784.18
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

```

And here are the results in graph form:

![Benchmark results](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/5vndppzd7a5xk8qcw2id.png)

I tried testing with 1,000 concurrent requests, but ApacheBench times out due to that many sockets being open. I tried httperf and here are the results:

```text
voodooattack@voodooattack:~$ httperf --port=3000 --num-conns=10000 --rate=1000
httperf --client=0/1 --server=localhost --port=3000 --uri=/ --rate=1000 --send-buffer=4096 --recv-buffer=16384 --num-conns=10000 --num-calls=1
httperf: warning: open file limit > FD_SETSIZE; limiting max. # of open files to FD_SETSIZE
Maximum connect burst length: 262

Total: connections 9779 requests 9779 replies 9779 test-duration 10.029 s

Connection rate: 975.1 conn/s (1.0 ms/conn, <=1022 concurrent connections)
Connection time [ms]: min 0.5 avg 337.9 max 7191.8 median 79.5 stddev 848.1
Connection time [ms]: connect 207.3
Connection length [replies/conn]: 1.000

Request rate: 975.1 req/s (1.0 ms/req)
Request size [B]: 62.0

Reply rate [replies/s]: min 903.5 avg 974.6 max 1045.7 stddev 100.5 (2 samples)
Reply time [ms]: response 129.5 transfer 1.1
Reply size [B]: header 89.0 content 8660.0 footer 2.0 (total 8751.0)
Reply status: 1xx=0 2xx=9779 3xx=0 4xx=0 5xx=0

CPU time [s]: user 0.35 system 9.67 (user 3.5% system 96.4% total 99.9%)
Net I/O: 8389.9 KB/s (68.7*10^6 bps)

Errors: total 221 client-timo 0 socket-timo 0 connrefused 0 connreset 0
Errors: fd-unavail 221 addrunavail 0 ftab-full 0 other 0
```

As you can see, it still works; albeit with some connections timing out due to the stress. I'm still working on figuring out what's causing this issue.

The source code to the project is available at [GitHub](https://github.com/voodooattack/nexusjs), feel free to check it out.

Happy hacking, and until next time!

**Edit:**

Here is a pre-alpha release in case you wish to do your own benchmarking. Please note that this was only tested on two machines, both were running Ubuntu 17.10:

https://github.com/voodooattack/nexusjs/releases/tag/4dd3419