Proposal: For Flow<T> returning functions to not be 'suspending'

[chris-hatton]

Clearly, member-functions of RPC Services that return an immediate type need to be suspending, reflecting the asynchronous nature of the contract. e.g:

@Rpc
interface MyService: RpcService {
    suspend fun getValue(): String // Will be implemented by asynchronous operations
}

Where a member-function returns Flow<T>, however, I believe it would be idiomatic for these not to be suspending i.e:

@Rpc
interface MyService: RpcService {
    suspend fun getValue(): String
    suspend fun getValueFlow(): Flow<String> // Currently this needs to be marked `suspend`
}

...I propose should be:

@Rpc
interface MyService: RpcService {
    suspend fun getValue(): String
    fun getValueFlow(): Flow<String>
}

Flows are already asynchronous by nature; they can be returned immediately, and only the first element is delayed as necessary.
Making these suspend seems redundant - unless I am missing a reason why this has to be?

[Mr3zee]

Hey, @chris-hatton !
We just had a design session last week that came to the same conclusion.
This will be changed is some near future