What is "coroutine"

alt. (context programming English) A piece of code that performs a task, and that can be passed new input and return output more than once. n. (context programming English) A piece of code that performs a task, and that can be passed new input and return output more than once.

Coroutines are computer program components that generalize subroutines for nonpreemptive multitasking, by allowing multiple entry points for suspending and resuming execution at certain locations. Coroutines are well-suited for implementing more familiar program components such as cooperative tasks, exceptions, event loop, iterators, infinite lists and pipes.

According to Donald Knuth, the term coroutine was coined by Melvin Conway in 1958, after he applied it to construction of an assembly program. The first published explanation of the coroutine appeared later, in 1963.