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Revision: 1.85
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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. They should also be relatively responsive - a
118 seed node that blocks for long periods will slow down everybody else.
119
120 =item seeds - C<host:port>
121
122 Seeds are transport endpoint(s) (usually a hostname/IP address and a
123 TCP port) of nodes thta should be used as seed nodes.
124
125 The nodes listening on those endpoints are expected to be long-running,
126 and at least one of those should always be available. When nodes run out
127 of connections (e.g. due to a network error), they try to re-establish
128 connections to some seednodes again to join the network.
129
130 =back
131
132 =head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
133
134 =over 4
135
136 =cut
137
138 package AnyEvent::MP;
139
140 use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
141
142 use common::sense;
143
144 use Carp ();
145
146 use AE ();
147
148 use base "Exporter";
149
150 our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
151
152 our @EXPORT = qw(
153 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
154 configure
155 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
156 port
157 );
158
159 our $SELF;
160
161 sub _self_die() {
162 my $msg = $@;
163 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
164 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
165 }
166
167 =item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
168
169 The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
170 ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
171 a call to C<configure>.
172
173 =item $nodeid = node_of $port
174
175 Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
176
177 =item configure $profile, key => value...
178
179 =item configure key => value...
180
181 Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
182 "distributed mode") it has to configure itself - the minimum a node needs
183 to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
184 some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
185
186 This function configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
187 never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
188
189 =over 4
190
191 =item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
192
193 The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
194 L<aemp> commandline utility). The profile name can be specified via the
195 named C<profile> parameter or can simply be the first parameter). If it is
196 missing, then the nodename (F<uname -n>) will be used as profile name.
197
198 The profile data is then gathered as follows:
199
200 First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conveniently
201 undocumented at the moment) will be interpreted as configuration
202 data. Then they will be overwritten by any values specified in the global
203 default configuration (see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of
204 profiles chosen by the profile name (and any C<parent> attributes).
205
206 That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
207 and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
208 and can only be used to specify defaults.
209
210 If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
211 this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
212 special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
213
214 =item step 2, bind listener sockets
215
216 The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
217 aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
218 to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
219 outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
220 binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
221
222 If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
223 used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
224 local IP address it finds.
225
226 =item step 3, connect to seed nodes
227
228 As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
229 L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
230 connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
231
232 =back
233
234 Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
235 This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
236
237 configure
238
239 Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
240 clients.
241
242 configure nodeid => "anon/";
243
244 Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
245 for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
246 customary for aemp).
247
248 # use the aemp commandline utility
249 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
250
251 # then use it
252 configure profile => "seed";
253
254 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
255 # aemp run profile seed
256
257 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
258 # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(hostname)"
259
260 =item $SELF
261
262 Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
263 blocks.
264
265 =item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
266
267 Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
268 just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
269 module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
270
271 =item snd $port, type => @data
272
273 =item snd $port, @msg
274
275 Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
276 local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
277
278 While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
279 use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
280 request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
281 arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
282
283 The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
284 function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
285 forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
286 and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
287 never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
288 receiving port.
289
290 The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
291 JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
292 of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
293 that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
294 node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
295 these.
296
297 =item $local_port = port
298
299 Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
300 no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
301
302 =item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
303
304 Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
305 creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
306
307 The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
308 global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
309 port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
310 (i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
311
312 If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
313
314 my $port = port {
315 my @msg = @_;
316 ...
317 kil $SELF;
318 };
319
320 =cut
321
322 sub rcv($@);
323
324 sub _kilme {
325 die "received message on port without callback";
326 }
327
328 sub port(;&) {
329 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
330 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
331
332 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
333
334 $port
335 }
336
337 =item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
338
339 Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
340 remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
341 C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
342
343 The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
344 executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
345 result in the port being C<kil>ed.
346
347 The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
348 C<tag> match.
349
350 =item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
351
352 Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
353 given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
354 C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
355 registered for each tag.
356
357 The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
358 element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
359 environment as the default callback (see above).
360
361 Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
362
363 my $port = rcv port,
364 msg1 => sub { ... },
365 msg2 => sub { ... },
366 ;
367
368 Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
369 in one go:
370
371 snd $otherport, reply =>
372 rcv port,
373 msg1 => sub { ... },
374 ...
375 ;
376
377 Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
378 (e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
379
380 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
381 my @reply = @_;
382
383 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
384 };
385
386 =cut
387
388 sub rcv($@) {
389 my $port = shift;
390 my ($nodeid, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
391
392 $NODE{$nodeid} == $NODE{""}
393 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
394
395 while (@_) {
396 if (ref $_[0]) {
397 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
398 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
399 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
400
401 $self->[2] = shift;
402 } else {
403 my $cb = shift;
404 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
405 local $SELF = $port;
406 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
407 };
408 }
409 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
410 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
411 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
412
413 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
414 local $SELF = $port;
415
416 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
417 shift;
418 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
419 } else {
420 &{ $self->[0] };
421 }
422 };
423
424 $self
425 };
426
427 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
428 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
429
430 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
431
432 if (defined $cb) {
433 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
434 } else {
435 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
436 }
437 }
438 }
439
440 $port
441 }
442
443 =item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
444
445 Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
446 closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
447 callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
448
449 This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
450
451 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
452 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
453 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
454 snd @reply, $SELF;
455 };
456 };
457
458 =cut
459
460 sub psub(&) {
461 my $cb = shift;
462
463 my $port = $SELF
464 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
465
466 sub {
467 local $SELF = $port;
468
469 if (wantarray) {
470 my @res = eval { &$cb };
471 _self_die if $@;
472 @res
473 } else {
474 my $res = eval { &$cb };
475 _self_die if $@;
476 $res
477 }
478 }
479 }
480
481 =item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
482
483 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
484
485 =item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
486
487 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
488
489 Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
490 messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
491 to stop monitoring again.
492
493 In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
494 number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
495 "normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
496 C<eval> if unsure.
497
498 In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
499 will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, if a @reason was specified, i.e. on
500 "normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
501 port is killed with the same reason.
502
503 The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
504 C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
505
506 In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
507 C<snd>.
508
509 Monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a monitoring
510 alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
511
512 As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
513 a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
514 lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
515 even monitoring requests can get lost (for example, when the connection
516 to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
517 these problems do not exist.
518
519 C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
520 after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
521 arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
522 loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
523 the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
524 port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
525 delivered again.
526
527 Inter-host-connection timeouts and monitoring depend on the transport
528 used. The only transport currently implemented is TCP, and AnyEvent::MP
529 relies on TCP to detect node-downs (this can take 10-15 minutes on a
530 non-idle connection, and usually around two hours for idle conenctions).
531
532 This means that monitoring is good for program errors and cleaning up
533 stuff eventually, but they are no replacement for a timeout when you need
534 to ensure some maximum latency.
535
536 Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
537
538 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
539
540 Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
541
542 mon $port;
543
544 Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
545
546 mon $port, $self => "restart";
547
548 =cut
549
550 sub mon {
551 my ($nodeid, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
552
553 my $node = $NODE{$nodeid} || add_node $nodeid;
554
555 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
556
557 unless (ref $cb) {
558 if (@_) {
559 # send a kill info message
560 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
561 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
562 } else {
563 # simply kill other port
564 my $port = $cb;
565 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
566 }
567 }
568
569 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
570
571 defined wantarray
572 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
573 }
574
575 =item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
576
577 Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
578 is killed, the references will be freed.
579
580 Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
581
582 This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
583 want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
584
585 $port->rcv (start => sub {
586 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
587 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
588 });
589 });
590
591 =cut
592
593 sub mon_guard {
594 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
595
596 #TODO: mon-less form?
597
598 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
599 }
600
601 =item kil $port[, @reason]
602
603 Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
604
605 If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
606 monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
607 "normally").
608
609 Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
610 C<mon>, see above).
611
612 Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
613 will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
614
615 Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
616 $message >>.
617
618 =cut
619
620 =item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
621
622 Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
623 case it's the node where that port resides).
624
625 The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
626 possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
627
628 After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
629 node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
630 fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
631 specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
632
633 If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
634 the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
635 C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
636 exists or it runs out of package names.
637
638 The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
639 object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments. It I<must>
640 call one of the C<rcv> functions to set callbacks on C<$SELF>, otherwise
641 the port might not get created.
642
643 A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
644 port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
645 local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
646 when there is a problem.
647
648 C<spawn> guarantees that the C<$initfunc> has no visible effects on the
649 caller before C<spawn> returns (by delaying invocation when spawn is
650 called for the local node).
651
652 Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
653
654 # this node, executed from within a port context:
655 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
656 mon $server;
657
658 # init function on C<$othernode>
659 sub connect {
660 my ($srcport) = @_;
661
662 mon $srcport;
663
664 rcv $SELF, sub {
665 ...
666 };
667 }
668
669 =cut
670
671 sub _spawn {
672 my $port = shift;
673 my $init = shift;
674
675 # rcv will create the actual port
676 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
677 eval {
678 &{ load_func $init }
679 };
680 _self_die if $@;
681 }
682
683 sub spawn(@) {
684 my ($nodeid, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
685
686 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
687
688 $_[0] =~ /::/
689 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
690
691 snd_to_func $nodeid, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
692
693 "$nodeid#$id"
694 }
695
696 =item after $timeout, @msg
697
698 =item after $timeout, $callback
699
700 Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
701 specified number of seconds.
702
703 This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
704 AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
705 so it may go away in the future.
706
707 =cut
708
709 sub after($@) {
710 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
711
712 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
713 undef $t;
714 ref $action[0]
715 ? $action[0]()
716 : snd @action;
717 };
718 }
719
720 =back
721
722 =head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
723
724 AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
725 == aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
726 programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
727 sample:
728
729 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
730 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
731 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
732 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
733
734 Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
735
736 =over 4
737
738 =item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
739
740 Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
741 way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
742 configuration or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
743
744 =item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
745 uses "local ports are like remote ports".
746
747 The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
748 only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
749 when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
750 port.
751
752 Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
753 they are not.
754
755 AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
756 ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
757 occur.
758
759 =item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
760
761 Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
762 needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
763 useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
764 AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
765 filter messages without dequeuing them.
766
767 (But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
768
769 =item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
770
771 Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
772 so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
773 connection establishment is handled in the background.
774
775 =item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
776
777 Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
778 without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
779 and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
780
781 AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
782 is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
783 monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
784 sequence.
785
786 =item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
787
788 In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
789 known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
790 destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
791
792 AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
793 around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
794
795 =item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
796 authentication and can use TLS.
797
798 AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
799 securely authenticate nodes.
800
801 =item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
802 communications.
803
804 The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
805 language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
806 language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
807 used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
808
809 It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
810 with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
811 protocol simple.
812
813 =item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
814
815 In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
816 or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
817 difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
818 Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
819 on a per-process basis.
820
821 =item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
822
823 Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
824 same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
825
826 In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
827 that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
828 on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
829 remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
830 reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
831
832 This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
833 (hard to do in Erlang).
834
835 =back
836
837 =head1 RATIONALE
838
839 =over 4
840
841 =item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
842
843 We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
844 that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
845 the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
846 overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
847
848 Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
849 procedures to be "valid".
850
851 And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
852 global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
853
854 =item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
855
856 In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
857 format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
858 default (although all nodes will accept it).
859
860 The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
861 faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
862 experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
863 than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
864 easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
865 always have to re-think your design.
866
867 Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
868 objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
869
870 =back
871
872 =head1 SEE ALSO
873
874 L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
875
876 L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
877
878 L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
879 your applications.
880
881 L<AnyEvent::MP::LogCatcher> - simple service to display log messages from
882 all nodes.
883
884 L<AnyEvent>.
885
886 =head1 AUTHOR
887
888 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
889 http://home.schmorp.de/
890
891 =cut
892
893 1
894