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Computed still updating (and subscribed to input observables) while output not observed #162
Description
When trying the following code
const obs = observable(1);
const observer = () => { console.log("inside: " + obs()); return obs() };
const comp = computed(observer);
const unsub = subscribe(() => console.log(comp()));
obs(2);
unsub();
obs(3);
unsubscribe(observer);
obs(4);we get the output
inside: 1
1
inside: 2
2
inside: 3while I would kind of expect the logs from inside the computed to stop after the unsub(). But this is only the case when I call unsubscribe on the function that went into computed (which also puzzled me a bit).
Is it desirable that computeds still fire internally even when their output (data) is not subscribed to?
I think my use case with the pipe functionality that I am building would benefit greatly from automatic internal unsubscribe from a computeds observable inputs, because that would propagate up the chain, eventually allowing me to detect a whole chain has become unobserved at the beginning of the chain, which then allows me to stop the Websocket connection that produces the data for the chain.
Activity
luwes commentedon Apr 10, 2021
thanks for the feedback, I removed the bug label for now but what you explain does makes sense to me.
I'm not sure it's possible to change this behavior though without breaking things.
another call to
comp()in the end would have to have an updated value of course but it could be more like a lazy evaluation then.wonder what S.js and MobX does in this case? do you happen to know?
quixot1c commentedon Apr 10, 2021
I investigated a little further and it seems that the
data()function that is returned from a call tocomputed()is different from thedata()returned byobservable(). The one fromobservablehas._observersbut the one fromcomputeddoes not. So it seems thedatareturned fromcomputeddoes not keep track of who is observing it and executing the observers when changes occur to it. And so it also doesn't know when it isn't being observed and doesn't know when to internally unobserve the observables inside.I'm not sure about S or MobX's workings I'm afraid.
Freak613 commentedon May 11, 2021
Mobx has ref counting for computeds, disposing them when not in use.
Sjs use roots for this purpose, disposing all computations at once, but not until dispose is called. This results in zombie computations that will keep working until parent disposed or re-run.
mindplay-dk commentedon Mar 13, 2025
Have you folks seen this?
https://developer.chrome.com/blog/movebefore-api
I wonder if reconciliation can now literally take the naive approach and just do this?
I mean,
moveBeforepreserves state not only of iframes and CSS but presumably selection and focus, too, right?I wonder if making fewer moves still matters for the sake of performance, or if you can literally just "brute force" reorder now? 😏