Libraries and BIFS for Distributed Programming

When we write distributed programs, we very rarely start from scratch. In the standard libraries, there are a number of modules that can be used to write distributed programs. These modules are written using the distribution BIFs, but they hide a lot of the complexity from the programmer.

Two modules in the standard distribution cover most needs.

  • rpc provides a number of remote procedure call services.

  • global has functions for the registration of names and locks in a distributed system and for the maintenance of a fully connected network.

The single most useful function in the module rpc is the following:

call(Node, Mod, Function, Args) -> Result | {badrpc, Reason}

This evaluates apply(Mod, Function, ...

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