* "value" of a successful step or the "result" (value or exception) of any step.
 *
 * <ol>
 *   <li>A pipeline starts at its leaf step (or steps), which is created from either a callable
 *       block or a {@link ListenableFuture}.
 *   <li>Each other step is derived from one or more input steps. At each step, zero or more objects
 *       can be captured for later closing.

   *     HashBiMap.<Long, String>create());
   * ...
   * Set<Long> set = map.keySet();  // Needn't be in synchronized block
   * ...
   * synchronized (map) {  // Synchronizing on map, not set!
   *   Iterator<Long> it = set.iterator(); // Must be in synchronized block
   *   while (it.hasNext()) {
   *     foo(it.next());
   *   }
   * }
   * }</pre>
   *