Semicolony ELI5 · comic

The event loop.

One waiter covers the whole restaurant by refusing to ever stand and watch food cook.

Just me, yes.

1
No second waiter is coming — every table in this room is one thread’s problem.
You were ready first.

2
The queue settles every argument about who is next: whichever task became ready first.
Yell when it’s done.

3
Cooking belongs to the kitchen; the waiter’s entire job is to drop the order and walk away.
4
The point is not speed — it is that nobody ever stands watching a pot while someone else could be served.
On my way back round.

5
A finished dish is just a new item in the queue, collected on whichever lap comes next.
Send help.

6
One table that will not stop talking holds the whole room hostage — the loop cannot walk away mid-task.

One waiter, a full room: take the next ready task, hand off slow work, never sit idle.

Semicolony semicolony.dev/eli5/event-loop/comic