python 44 lines · 6 steps

A self-rescheduling periodic task in Python

A thread-safe helper that runs a function on a repeating interval using chained one-shot timers.

Explained by highlit
Intermediate threading scheduling concurrency locks error-handling
1import threading
2import logging
3 
4logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
5 
6 
7class PeriodicTask:
8 def __init__(self, interval, func, *args, **kwargs):
9 self.interval = interval
10 self.func = func
11 self.args = args
12 self.kwargs = kwargs
13 self._timer = None
14 self._lock = threading.Lock()
15 self._running = False
16 
17 def start(self):
18 with self._lock:
19 if self._running:
20 return
21 self._running = True
22 self._schedule()
23 
24 def _schedule(self):
25 self._timer = threading.Timer(self.interval, self._run)
26 self._timer.daemon = True
27 self._timer.start()
28 
29 def _run(self):
30 try:
31 self.func(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
32 except Exception:
33 logger.exception("periodic task %r failed", self.func.__name__)
34 finally:
35 with self._lock:
36 if self._running:
37 self._schedule()
38 
39 def stop(self):
40 with self._lock:
41 self._running = False
42 if self._timer is not None:
43 self._timer.cancel()
44 self._timer = None
01 / 01
STEP 01

Walkthrough

Space play ←→ step click any line
Three takeaways
  1. 1Chaining one-shot timers gives a repeating schedule that measures the interval between the end of one run and the start of the next.
  2. 2A lock guarding the running flag prevents start/stop races from leaving stray timers scheduled.
  3. 3Catching exceptions inside the task keeps one failure from silently killing the whole repeating loop.

Related explainers

python 
from functools import lru_cache
import math
 
 

Memoizing number theory with lru_cache

memoization number-theory caching
Intermediate 8 steps
python 
import re
from collections import defaultdict
from pathlib import Path
 

Summarizing log files by date in Python

regex parsing aggregation
Intermediate 7 steps
go 
package fetch
 
import (
	"context"

Concurrent API fetches with errgroup in Go

concurrency goroutines error-handling
Intermediate 8 steps
javascript 
export function cloneState(state) {
  if (typeof structuredClone !== "function") {
    throw new Error("structuredClone is not available in this runtime");
  }

Deep cloning with structuredClone

deep-copy error-handling immutability
Intermediate 7 steps
rust 
use serde::Deserialize;
use serde_json::Value;
use std::collections::HashMap;
 

Modeling nested JSON with serde in Rust

deserialization json struct-mapping
Intermediate 9 steps
java 
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
public final class RequestCounter {
 

A thread-safe request counter with AtomicInteger

concurrency atomics lock-free
Intermediate 6 steps

Share this explainer

Here's the card — post it anywhere.

A self-rescheduling periodic task in Python — share card
Made with highlit — turn any snippet into a walkthrough like this in about a minute.
Explain your code