Add module for non-blocking timer class

[mikepschneider]

Hello,
I've created a simple non-blocking timer class for circuitpython using the time.monotonic() function. It was suggested on discord that the class might be a useful addition to the circuitpython library for others to use. If there's interest I'm happy to break out the class into a proper package.

Class is here:
https://github.com/mikepschneider/circuitpy_ms/blob/master/CIRCUITPY/nonblockingtimer.py

Example usages are here:
https://github.com/mikepschneider/circuitpy_ms/blob/master/CIRCUITPY/demos.py

[tannewt]

Hi @mikepschneider! Thanks for filing an issue. Your approach here is very interesting! At minimum it could be a library (or many) in our community bundle.

@wolf is working on asyncio which is similar in #619 . Thats the long-term, builtin way of supporting it.

[mikepschneider]

OK I'm happy to help in any way but I'm new to this community so I don't know how things work. If there's a next step I can/should do please let me know.

[wolf]

I'm new to this community, too :-) I don't know yet what the next step is for your code but it sounds like there may well be a place for it here. I'll check it out. Do you get on the Discord chat? You and I should find a way to chat to figure out the next steps (probably with some direction from @tannewt and others).

[mikepschneider]

Yes I'm on discord now and then.

[tannewt]

Hi @mikepschneider Please see https://learn.adafruit.com/creating-and-sharing-a-circuitpython-library?view=all for instructions on structuring a CircuitPython library. Once you have it in a repo following that structure we can add it to the community bundle. Feel free to ping me on Discord if you have questions.

[mikepschneider]

I've started creating a repo here: https://github.com/mikepschneider/CircuitPython_nonblocking_timer. Will update when there's something useful there to check out.

[mikepschneider]

I've updated the nonblocking_timer code according to the CircuitPython library doc from above.

Unit tests are running on travis-ci, but build is failing when building the circuitpython bundle.
See https://travis-ci.org/mikepschneider/CircuitPython_nonblocking_timer Could use some eyeballs on that @tannewt

/home/travis/build/mikepschneider/CircuitPython_nonblocking_timer
Multiple top level py files not allowed. Please put them in a package or combine them into a single file.
Generating VERSIONS
WARNING: some failures above
The command "circuitpython-build-bundles --filename_prefix circuitpython-nonblocking_timer --library_location ." exited with 2.
2.32s```

[tannewt]

@mikepschneider I'd recommend moving the test file into a test directory. We may need to exempt a test directory from the build here like we do for examples.

[tannewt]

This is done: https://github.com/adafruit/CircuitPython_Community_Bundle/tree/master/libraries/helpers