Yan Cui
I help clients go faster for less using serverless technologies.
Having looked at a number of extension methods in Rx which allows you to combine two observable collections in some way, namely:
There are also extension methods which allow you to repeatedly subscribe to the same observable collection, the suitably name IObservable<T>.Repeat method.
If the repeated observable collection is pre-determined, i.e. regardless of when you subscribe to the observable it’ll always return the same set of values (such as Observable.Return(1)), then those same values will be repeated in the resulting observable collection. This type of observable collections are referred to as Cold Observables, the enumeration equivalent of these will be an array whose values have been defined upfront.
Conversely, if the observable collection’s values are determined at the point of subscription, then when the observable collection is repeated it might yield a different set of values (e.g. when you use the Observable.Defer method to generate an observable collection). This type of observable collections are referred to as Hot Observables, the enumeration equivalent of these will be an Iterator which uses yield return to return whatever value it has at the point of execution.
You can call Repeat either as an extension method:
var zs = xs.Repeat(3);
or as a static method:
var zs = Observable.Repeat(xs, 3);
There are a few things you should keep in mind when you’re using the Repeat method though.
1. If you call Repeat method with no argument, it’ll repeatedly subscribe to the same observable collection indefinitely
2. When you supply the Repeat method with a repeat count, the count actually means how many times in total the observable collection will be subscribed. I.e. xs.Repeat(1) subscribes to xs once, and xs.Repeat(0) will not subscribe to xs at all.
3. If an exception is thrown during any repetition of the observable collection, the resulting observable collection excepts too as illustrated below:
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
- Production-Ready Serverless: Join 20+ AWS Heroes & Community Builders and 1000+ other students in levelling up your serverless game. This is your one-stop shop for quickly levelling up your serverless skills.
- I help clients launch product ideas, improve their development processes and upskill their teams. If you’d like to work together, then let’s get in touch.
- Join my community on Discord, ask questions, and join the discussion on all things AWS and Serverless.
Pingback: Rx framework — IObservable<T>.Retry | theburningmonk.com
You’ve reversed the definition of cold and hot observable.
I quote the RX hands on labs:
“Most of the sequences we’re looking at in this exercise are so-called cold observables which means
they start running upon subscription. This is different from hot observables such as mouse move events which
are flowing even before a subscription is active (there’s no way to keep the mouse from moving after all…).”
and you can also have a look at http://jesseliberty.com/2011/05/09/hot-and-cold-observables-in-rx/
@liviu trifoi – yes you’re right, that was a typo on my part, meant to say that the other way round! Corrected accordingly, thanks for pointing it out.