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The name coroutine suggests that in some sense they should be dual to (sub)routines. Is there a real mathematical duality? I'm hoping for something like "in category theory subroutines are X and coroutines are Y, where X is dual to Y".

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If there is a connection, it would be via continuations. – Dave Clarke♦ Nov 13 '12 at 15:25
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Which incidentally are not dual to ntinuations. – Dave Clarke♦ Nov 13 '12 at 15:26
“Regrettably, the world of computing seems better at coining new terms for old meanings (or without any meaning at all).” © Edsger W. Dijkstra, EWD854. – beroal Nov 16 '12 at 19:12
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The prefix 'co' isn't always category theoretic. A coconut isn't equivalent to a nut. – Vijay D Nov 25 '12 at 22:43

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up vote 10 down vote accepted

I think this a misanalysis of the "co" prefix in this case.

"Coroutine" is "co" in the sense of "co-worker"; something that works together with another.

The term precedes by a long way the gross overuse for programming concepts of the prefix "co" in the Category Theoretic sense of a dual of another concept.

(Yes, there is editorial content there. ;-) )

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