# fastq [](http://travis-ci.org/mcollina/fastq)
Fast, in memory work queue. `fastq` is API compatible with
[`async.queue`](https://github.com/caolan/async#queueworker-concurrency)
Benchmarks (1 million tasks):
* setImmediate: 1359ms
* fastq: 1492ms
* async.queue: 4039ms
* neoAsync.queue: 4476ms
Obtained on node 4.2.2, on a MacBook Pro 2014 (i7, 16GB of RAM).
If you need zero-overhead series function call, check out
[fastseries](http://npm.im/fastseries). For zero-overhead parallel
function call, check out [fastparallel](http://npm.im/fastparallel).
[](https://github.com/feross/standard)
* Installation
* Basic Example
* API
* Licence & copyright
## Install
`npm i fastq --save`
## Usage
```js
'use strict'
var queue = require('fastq')(worker, 1)
queue.push(42, function (err, result) {
if (err) { throw err }
console.log('the result is', result)
})
function worker (arg, cb) {
cb(null, 42 * 2)
}
```
### Setting this
```js
'use strict'
var that = { hello: 'world' }
var queue = require('fastq')(that, worker, 1)
queue.push(42, function (err, result) {
if (err) { throw err }
console.log(this)
console.log('the result is', result)
})
function worker (arg, cb) {
console.log(this)
cb(null, 42 * 2)
}
```
## API
* fastqueue()
* queue#push()
* queue#unshift()
* queue#pause()
* queue#resume()
* queue#idle()
* queue#length()
* queue#kill()
* queue#killAndDrain()
* queue#concurrency
* queue#drain
* queue#empty
* queue#saturated
-------------------------------------------------------
### fastqueue([that], worker, concurrency)
Creates a new queue.
Arguments:
* `that`, optional context of the `worker` function.
* `worker`, worker function, it would be called with `that` as `this`,
if that is specified.
* `concurrency`, number of concurrent tasks that could be executed in
parallel.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.push(task, done)
Add a task at the end of the queue. `done(err, result)` will be called
when the task was processed.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.unshift(task, done)
Add a task at the beginning of the queue. `done(err, result)` will be called
when the task was processed.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.pause()
Pause the processing of tasks. Currently worked tasks are not
stopped.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.resume()
Resume the processing of tasks.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.idle()
Returns `false` if there are tasks being processed or waiting to be processed.
`true` otherwise.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.length()
Returns the number of tasks waiting to be processed (in the queue).
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.kill()
Removes all tasks waiting to be processed, and reset `drain` to an empty
function.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.killAndDrain()
Same than `kill` but the `drain` function will be called before reset to empty.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.concurrency
Property that returns the number of concurrent tasks that could be executed in
parallel. It can be altered at runtime.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.drain
Function that will be called when the last
item from the queue has been processed by a worker.
It can be altered at runtime.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.empty
Function that will be called when the last
item from the queue has been assigned to a worker.
It can be altered at runtime.
-------------------------------------------------------
### queue.saturated
Function that will be called when the queue hits the concurrency
limit.
It can be altered at runtime.
## License
ISC