can gpio pins take time to return values

Question

I've read some sensors/devices take time to return result since they're interacting with environment or some other resource that takes time. One example is DHT-11 temperature sensor that takes ~2seconds to give results.

So what they mean is if we read() from GPIO at that moment, it'll block for ~2 seconds or will it contain garbage value and return immediately till actual result is obtained. I'm trying to mock gpio pins for some testing till I get my raspi and sensors so I'm asking here. Thankyou :)

Answer 1

When you read a GPIO you get its current level at that instant. There is no block and no delay (other than the fraction of a microsecond needed to read the port).

A DHT11 returns a bit stream of 40 bits. Each bit is encoded as a low period followed by a long or short high period which determines whether the bit is 1 or 0. That doesn't take 2 seconds to read, it takes about 4 milliseconds. You may be thinking of the recommended minimum delay between DHT22 readings which is a two second minimum (the DHT11 is one second).