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#### when_any, produce first outcome, whether result or exception

We may not be running in an environment in which we can guarantee no exception will be thrown by any of our task functions. In that case, the above implementations of `wait_first_something()` would be naïve: as mentioned in the section on Fiber Management, an uncaught exception in one of our task fibers would cause `std::terminate()` to be called.

Let's at least ensure that such an exception would propagate to the fiber awaiting the first result. We can use `future<>` to transport either a return value or an exception. Therefore, we will change `wait_first_value()`'s `unbounded_channel<>` to hold `future< T >` items instead of simply `T`.

Once we have a `future<>` in hand, all we need do is call `future::get()`, which will either return the value or rethrow the exception.

    template< typename Fn, typename ... Fns >
    typename std::result_of< Fn() >::type
    wait_first_outcome( Fn && function, Fns && ... functions) {
        // In this case, the value we pass through the channel is actually a
        // future -- which is already ready. future can carry either a value or an
        // exception.
        typedef typename std::result_of< Fn() >::type return_t;
        typedef boost::fibers::future< return_t > future_t;
        typedef boost::fibers::unbounded_channel< future_t > channel_t;
        auto channelp(std::make_shared< channel_t >() );
        // launch all the relevant fibers
        wait_first_outcome_impl< return_t >( channelp,
                                             std::forward< Fn >( function),
                                             std::forward< Fns >( functions) ... );
        // retrieve the first future
        future_t future( channelp->value_pop() );
        // close the channel: no subsequent push() has to succeed
        channelp->close();
        // either return value or throw exception
        return future.get();
    }

So far so good — but there's a timing issue. How should we obtain the `future<>` to `unbounded_channel::push()` on the channel?

We could call `fibers::async()`. That would certainly produce a `future<>` for the task function. The trouble is that it would return too quickly! We only want `future<>` items for completed tasks on our `unbounded_channel<>`. In fact, we only want the `future<>` for the one that completes first. If each fiber launched by `wait_first_outcome()` were to `push()` the result of calling `async()`, the channel would only ever report the result of the leftmost task item — not the one that completes most quickly.

Calling `future::get()` on the future returned by `async()` wouldn't be right. You can only call `get()` once per `future<>` instance! And if there were an exception, it would be rethrown inside the helper fiber at the producer end of the channel, rather than propagated to the consumer end.

We could call `future::wait()`. That would block the helper fiber until the `future<>` became ready, at which point we could `push()` it to be retrieved by `wait_first_outcome()`.

That would work — but there's a simpler tactic that avoids creating an extra fiber. We can wrap the task function in a `packaged_task<>`. While one naturally thinks of passing a `packaged_task<>` to a new fiber — that is, in fact, what `async()` does — in this case, we're already running in the helper fiber at the producer end of the channel! We can simply call the `packaged_task<>`. On return from that call, the task function has completed, meaning that the `future<>` obtained from the `packaged_task<>` is certain to be ready. At that point we can simply `push()` it to the channel.

    template< typename T, typename CHANNELP, typename Fn >
    void wait_first_outcome_impl( CHANNELP channel, Fn && function) {
        boost::fibers::fiber(
            // Use std::bind() here for C++11 compatibility. C++11 lambda capture
            // can't move a move-only Fn type, but bind() can. Let bind() move the
            // channel pointer and the function into the bound object, passing
            // references into the lambda.
            std::bind(
                []( CHANNELP & channel,
                    typename std::decay< Fn >::type & function) {
                    // Instantiate a packaged_task to capture any exception thrown by
                    // function.
                    boost::fibers::packaged_task< T() > task( function);
                    // Immediately run this packaged_task on same fiber. We want
                    // function() to have completed BEFORE we push the future.
                    task();
                    // Pass the corresponding future to consumer. Ignore
                    // channel_op_status returned by push(): might be closed; we
                    // simply don't care.
                    channel->push( task.get_future() );
                },
                channel,
                std::forward< Fn >( function)
            )).detach();
    }

Calling it might look like this:

    std::string result = wait_first_outcome(
            [](){ return sleeper("wfos_first",   50); },
            [](){ return sleeper("wfos_second", 100); },
            [](){ return sleeper("wfos_third",  150); });
    std::cout << "wait_first_outcome(success) => " << result << std::endl;
    assert(result == "wfos_first");

    std::string thrown;
    try {
        result = wait_first_outcome(
                [](){ return sleeper("wfof_first",   50, true); },
                [](){ return sleeper("wfof_second", 100); },
                [](){ return sleeper("wfof_third",  150); });
    } catch ( std::exception const& e) {
        thrown = e.what();
    }
    std::cout << "wait_first_outcome(fail) threw '" << thrown
              << "'" << std::endl;
    assert(thrown == "wfof_first");