private val topics = mutableMapOf<String, Publisher>()
    private val lock = Mutex()

    suspend fun method(key: String) {
        lock.withLock { 
            topics.getOrPut(key) { //... }
        }
    }

is lock gives guarantee that other coroutines will see changes in

topics

?

Should do the trick, yes. Although, the suggested way would be to transform it into a coroutine or an actor: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49985933/mutex-the-right-way Can't provide you with the example, never tried it.

Yes, I know that actor solves my problem, but then I need to pass completion handler as part of message to actor, and this changes current design.

do you mind to share a snippet with actor? I'm doing something similar, but also with locks so far, didn't bother to change..

Currently I do smth like:

# thrift async server handler method:
override fun action(data, resultHandler: AsyncMethodCallback<ResultCode>) {
  ~ process(data)
  resultHandler.onComplete(ResultCode.OK)
}

Where

process

shown before So I can create actor, and pass completion call:

{ resultHandler.onComplete(ResultCode.OK) }

as additional field in data

what do you mean ConcurrentHashMap will block the whole thread? With mutex you synchronize on the whole collection. With ConcurrentHashMap (no mutext) you have concurrent reads and mostly concurrent writes. So, the collection will be blocked less often. Unless you have the same r/w ratio, than it's almost the same.

He means that using the mutex, he uses the suspension feature, unlike if he used ConcurrentHashMap, which blocks threads.

If the only thing you do in lock is put/get to/from map, then using CHM would give you much better performance and scalability in all conceivable scenarios.

as an exercise, is that how you rewrite this example with actors: https://pl.kotl.in/S1ALD9dXN? Or even somehow combine the actor with another

produce

coroutine instead of

CompletableDeferred<String?>

?

A channel for outputs doesn't really make sense. Consider replacing the

CompletableDeferred

with a

Continuation