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Revision: 1.84
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# Content
1 =head1 NAME
2
3 AnyEvent::MP - multi-processing/message-passing framework
4
5 =head1 SYNOPSIS
6
7 use AnyEvent::MP;
8
9 $NODE # contains this node's node ID
10 NODE # returns this node's node ID
11
12 $SELF # receiving/own port id in rcv callbacks
13
14 # initialise the node so it can send/receive messages
15 configure;
16
17 # ports are message destinations
18
19 # sending messages
20 snd $port, type => data...;
21 snd $port, @msg;
22 snd @msg_with_first_element_being_a_port;
23
24 # creating/using ports, the simple way
25 my $simple_port = port { my @msg = @_ };
26
27 # creating/using ports, tagged message matching
28 my $port = port;
29 rcv $port, ping => sub { snd $_[0], "pong" };
30 rcv $port, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" };
31
32 # create a port on another node
33 my $port = spawn $node, $initfunc, @initdata;
34
35 # monitoring
36 mon $port, $cb->(@msg) # callback is invoked on death
37 mon $port, $otherport # kill otherport on abnormal death
38 mon $port, $otherport, @msg # send message on death
39
40 =head1 CURRENT STATUS
41
42 bin/aemp - stable.
43 AnyEvent::MP - stable API, should work.
44 AnyEvent::MP::Intro - explains most concepts.
45 AnyEvent::MP::Kernel - mostly stable.
46 AnyEvent::MP::Global - stable but incomplete, protocol not yet final.
47
48 stay tuned.
49
50 =head1 DESCRIPTION
51
52 This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework.
53
54 Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running
55 on the same or other hosts, and you can supervise entities remotely.
56
57 For an introduction to this module family, see the L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro>
58 manual page and the examples under F<eg/>.
59
60 =head1 CONCEPTS
61
62 =over 4
63
64 =item port
65
66 Not to be confused with a TCP port, a "port" is something you can send
67 messages to (with the C<snd> function).
68
69 Ports allow you to register C<rcv> handlers that can match all or just
70 some messages. Messages send to ports will not be queued, regardless of
71 anything was listening for them or not.
72
73 =item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
74
75 A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
76 separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
77
78 =item node
79
80 A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node port,
81 which enables nodes to manage each other remotely, and to create new
82 ports.
83
84 Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
85 (no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
86 currently.
87
88 =item node ID - C<[A-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_\-.:]*>
89
90 A node ID is a string that uniquely identifies the node within a
91 network. Depending on the configuration used, node IDs can look like a
92 hostname, a hostname and a port, or a random string. AnyEvent::MP itself
93 doesn't interpret node IDs in any way.
94
95 =item binds - C<ip:port>
96
97 Nodes can only talk to each other by creating some kind of connection to
98 each other. To do this, nodes should listen on one or more local transport
99 endpoints - binds. Currently, only standard C<ip:port> specifications can
100 be used, which specify TCP ports to listen on.
101
102 =item seed nodes
103
104 When a node starts, it knows nothing about the network. To teach the node
105 about the network it first has to contact some other node within the
106 network. This node is called a seed.
107
108 Apart from the fact that other nodes know them as seed nodes and they have
109 to have fixed listening addresses, seed nodes are perfectly normal nodes -
110 any node can function as a seed node for others.
111
112 In addition to discovering the network, seed nodes are also used to
113 maintain the network and to connect nodes that otherwise would have
114 trouble connecting. They form the backbone of the AnyEvent::MP network.
115
116 Seed nodes are expected to be long-running, and at least one seed node
117 should always be available.
118
119 =item seeds - C<host:port>
120
121 Seeds are transport endpoint(s) (usually a hostname/IP address and a
122 TCP port) of nodes thta should be used as seed nodes.
123
124 The nodes listening on those endpoints are expected to be long-running,
125 and at least one of those should always be available. When nodes run out
126 of connections (e.g. due to a network error), they try to re-establish
127 connections to some seednodes again to join the network.
128
129 =back
130
131 =head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
132
133 =over 4
134
135 =cut
136
137 package AnyEvent::MP;
138
139 use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
140
141 use common::sense;
142
143 use Carp ();
144
145 use AE ();
146
147 use base "Exporter";
148
149 our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
150
151 our @EXPORT = qw(
152 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
153 configure
154 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
155 port
156 );
157
158 our $SELF;
159
160 sub _self_die() {
161 my $msg = $@;
162 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
163 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
164 }
165
166 =item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
167
168 The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
169 ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
170 a call to C<configure>.
171
172 =item $nodeid = node_of $port
173
174 Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
175
176 =item configure $profile, key => value...
177
178 =item configure key => value...
179
180 Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
181 "distributed mode") it has to configure itself - the minimum a node needs
182 to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
183 some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
184
185 This function configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
186 never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
187
188 =over 4
189
190 =item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
191
192 The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
193 L<aemp> commandline utility). The profile name can be specified via the
194 named C<profile> parameter or can simply be the first parameter). If it is
195 missing, then the nodename (F<uname -n>) will be used as profile name.
196
197 The profile data is then gathered as follows:
198
199 First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conveniently
200 undocumented at the moment) will be interpreted as configuration
201 data. Then they will be overwritten by any values specified in the global
202 default configuration (see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of
203 profiles chosen by the profile name (and any C<parent> attributes).
204
205 That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
206 and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
207 and can only be used to specify defaults.
208
209 If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
210 this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
211 special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
212
213 =item step 2, bind listener sockets
214
215 The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
216 aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
217 to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
218 outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
219 binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
220
221 If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
222 used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
223 local IP address it finds.
224
225 =item step 3, connect to seed nodes
226
227 As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
228 L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
229 connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
230
231 =back
232
233 Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
234 This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
235
236 configure
237
238 Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
239 clients.
240
241 configure nodeid => "anon/";
242
243 Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
244 for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
245 customary for aemp).
246
247 # use the aemp commandline utility
248 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
249
250 # then use it
251 configure profile => "seed";
252
253 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
254 # aemp run profile seed
255
256 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
257 # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(hostname)"
258
259 =item $SELF
260
261 Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
262 blocks.
263
264 =item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
265
266 Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
267 just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
268 module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
269
270 =item snd $port, type => @data
271
272 =item snd $port, @msg
273
274 Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
275 local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
276
277 While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
278 use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
279 request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
280 arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
281
282 The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
283 function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
284 forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
285 and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
286 never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
287 receiving port.
288
289 The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
290 JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
291 of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
292 that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
293 node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
294 these.
295
296 =item $local_port = port
297
298 Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
299 no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
300
301 =item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
302
303 Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
304 creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
305
306 The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
307 global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
308 port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
309 (i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
310
311 If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
312
313 my $port = port {
314 my @msg = @_;
315 ...
316 kil $SELF;
317 };
318
319 =cut
320
321 sub rcv($@);
322
323 sub _kilme {
324 die "received message on port without callback";
325 }
326
327 sub port(;&) {
328 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
329 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
330
331 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
332
333 $port
334 }
335
336 =item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
337
338 Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
339 remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
340 C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
341
342 The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
343 executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
344 result in the port being C<kil>ed.
345
346 The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
347 C<tag> match.
348
349 =item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
350
351 Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
352 given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
353 C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
354 registered for each tag.
355
356 The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
357 element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
358 environment as the default callback (see above).
359
360 Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
361
362 my $port = rcv port,
363 msg1 => sub { ... },
364 msg2 => sub { ... },
365 ;
366
367 Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
368 in one go:
369
370 snd $otherport, reply =>
371 rcv port,
372 msg1 => sub { ... },
373 ...
374 ;
375
376 Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
377 (e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
378
379 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
380 my @reply = @_;
381
382 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
383 };
384
385 =cut
386
387 sub rcv($@) {
388 my $port = shift;
389 my ($nodeid, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
390
391 $NODE{$nodeid} == $NODE{""}
392 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
393
394 while (@_) {
395 if (ref $_[0]) {
396 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
397 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
398 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
399
400 $self->[2] = shift;
401 } else {
402 my $cb = shift;
403 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
404 local $SELF = $port;
405 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
406 };
407 }
408 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
409 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
410 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
411
412 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
413 local $SELF = $port;
414
415 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
416 shift;
417 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
418 } else {
419 &{ $self->[0] };
420 }
421 };
422
423 $self
424 };
425
426 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
427 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
428
429 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
430
431 if (defined $cb) {
432 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
433 } else {
434 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
435 }
436 }
437 }
438
439 $port
440 }
441
442 =item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
443
444 Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
445 closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
446 callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
447
448 This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
449
450 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
451 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
452 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
453 snd @reply, $SELF;
454 };
455 };
456
457 =cut
458
459 sub psub(&) {
460 my $cb = shift;
461
462 my $port = $SELF
463 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
464
465 sub {
466 local $SELF = $port;
467
468 if (wantarray) {
469 my @res = eval { &$cb };
470 _self_die if $@;
471 @res
472 } else {
473 my $res = eval { &$cb };
474 _self_die if $@;
475 $res
476 }
477 }
478 }
479
480 =item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
481
482 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
483
484 =item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
485
486 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
487
488 Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
489 messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
490 to stop monitoring again.
491
492 In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
493 number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
494 "normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
495 C<eval> if unsure.
496
497 In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
498 will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, if a @reason was specified, i.e. on
499 "normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
500 port is killed with the same reason.
501
502 The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
503 C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
504
505 In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
506 C<snd>.
507
508 Monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a monitoring
509 alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
510
511 As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
512 a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
513 lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
514 even monitoring requests can get lost (for example, when the connection
515 to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
516 these problems do not exist.
517
518 C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
519 after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
520 arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
521 loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
522 the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
523 port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
524 delivered again.
525
526 Inter-host-connection timeouts and monitoring depend on the transport
527 used. The only transport currently implemented is TCP, and AnyEvent::MP
528 relies on TCP to detect node-downs (this can take 10-15 minutes on a
529 non-idle connection, and usually around two hours for idle conenctions).
530
531 This means that monitoring is good for program errors and cleaning up
532 stuff eventually, but they are no replacement for a timeout when you need
533 to ensure some maximum latency.
534
535 Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
536
537 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
538
539 Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
540
541 mon $port;
542
543 Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
544
545 mon $port, $self => "restart";
546
547 =cut
548
549 sub mon {
550 my ($nodeid, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
551
552 my $node = $NODE{$nodeid} || add_node $nodeid;
553
554 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
555
556 unless (ref $cb) {
557 if (@_) {
558 # send a kill info message
559 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
560 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
561 } else {
562 # simply kill other port
563 my $port = $cb;
564 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
565 }
566 }
567
568 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
569
570 defined wantarray
571 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
572 }
573
574 =item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
575
576 Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
577 is killed, the references will be freed.
578
579 Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
580
581 This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
582 want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
583
584 $port->rcv (start => sub {
585 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
586 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
587 });
588 });
589
590 =cut
591
592 sub mon_guard {
593 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
594
595 #TODO: mon-less form?
596
597 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
598 }
599
600 =item kil $port[, @reason]
601
602 Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
603
604 If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
605 monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
606 "normally").
607
608 Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
609 C<mon>, see above).
610
611 Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
612 will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
613
614 Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
615 $message >>.
616
617 =cut
618
619 =item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
620
621 Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
622 case it's the node where that port resides).
623
624 The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
625 possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
626
627 After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
628 node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
629 fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
630 specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
631
632 If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
633 the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
634 C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
635 exists or it runs out of package names.
636
637 The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
638 object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments. It I<must>
639 call one of the C<rcv> functions to set callbacks on C<$SELF>, otherwise
640 the port might not get created.
641
642 A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
643 port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
644 local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
645 when there is a problem.
646
647 C<spawn> guarantees that the C<$initfunc> has no visible effects on the
648 caller before C<spawn> returns (by delaying invocation when spawn is
649 called for the local node).
650
651 Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
652
653 # this node, executed from within a port context:
654 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
655 mon $server;
656
657 # init function on C<$othernode>
658 sub connect {
659 my ($srcport) = @_;
660
661 mon $srcport;
662
663 rcv $SELF, sub {
664 ...
665 };
666 }
667
668 =cut
669
670 sub _spawn {
671 my $port = shift;
672 my $init = shift;
673
674 # rcv will create the actual port
675 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
676 eval {
677 &{ load_func $init }
678 };
679 _self_die if $@;
680 }
681
682 sub spawn(@) {
683 my ($nodeid, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
684
685 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
686
687 $_[0] =~ /::/
688 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
689
690 snd_to_func $nodeid, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
691
692 "$nodeid#$id"
693 }
694
695 =item after $timeout, @msg
696
697 =item after $timeout, $callback
698
699 Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
700 specified number of seconds.
701
702 This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
703 AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
704 so it may go away in the future.
705
706 =cut
707
708 sub after($@) {
709 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
710
711 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
712 undef $t;
713 ref $action[0]
714 ? $action[0]()
715 : snd @action;
716 };
717 }
718
719 =back
720
721 =head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
722
723 AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
724 == aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
725 programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
726 sample:
727
728 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
729 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
730 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
731 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
732
733 Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
734
735 =over 4
736
737 =item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
738
739 Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
740 way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
741 configuration or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
742
743 =item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
744 uses "local ports are like remote ports".
745
746 The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
747 only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
748 when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
749 port.
750
751 Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
752 they are not.
753
754 AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
755 ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
756 occur.
757
758 =item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
759
760 Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
761 needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
762 useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
763 AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
764 filter messages without dequeuing them.
765
766 (But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
767
768 =item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
769
770 Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
771 so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
772 connection establishment is handled in the background.
773
774 =item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
775
776 Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
777 without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
778 and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
779
780 AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
781 is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
782 monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
783 sequence.
784
785 =item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
786
787 In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
788 known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
789 destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
790
791 AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
792 around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
793
794 =item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
795 authentication and can use TLS.
796
797 AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
798 securely authenticate nodes.
799
800 =item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
801 communications.
802
803 The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
804 language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
805 language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
806 used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
807
808 It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
809 with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
810 protocol simple.
811
812 =item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
813
814 In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
815 or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
816 difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
817 Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
818 on a per-process basis.
819
820 =item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
821
822 Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
823 same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
824
825 In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
826 that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
827 on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
828 remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
829 reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
830
831 This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
832 (hard to do in Erlang).
833
834 =back
835
836 =head1 RATIONALE
837
838 =over 4
839
840 =item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
841
842 We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
843 that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
844 the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
845 overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
846
847 Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
848 procedures to be "valid".
849
850 And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
851 global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
852
853 =item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
854
855 In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
856 format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
857 default (although all nodes will accept it).
858
859 The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
860 faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
861 experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
862 than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
863 easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
864 always have to re-think your design.
865
866 Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
867 objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
868
869 =back
870
871 =head1 SEE ALSO
872
873 L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
874
875 L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
876
877 L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
878 your applications.
879
880 L<AnyEvent::MP::LogCatcher> - simple service to display log messages from
881 all nodes.
882
883 L<AnyEvent>.
884
885 =head1 AUTHOR
886
887 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
888 http://home.schmorp.de/
889
890 =cut
891
892 1
893