[erlisp-devel] local nodes, how many?

[Dirk Gerrits]

Eric Lavigne wrote:
> These lines are in erlisp/src/node.lisp:
> 
> (defvar *current-node* (make-instance 'local-node))
> 
> (defun current-node ()
>   "Return the current/local node."
>   *current-node*)
> 
> This suggests that there is only one local-node and that it is also
> called the current-node. 

Well yeah, current-node is perhaps not such a great name.  But I named
it like that because it's basically also the node of the current-
process.

I'm not really attached to the name though, suggestions are welcome.

> My interpretation, then, is that all other nodes will be associated
> with separate Lisp invocations. In other words, without distributed
> processing there can be only one node. Is this right?

Well yes, distributed programming is the whole thing nodes are for.  If
you just do parallel programming you only use processes on the
current/local node.

> Also, the only place I have seen nodes used is in test/process.lisp,
> which only tests whether a created process is associated with
> current-node. Are there any other uses for nodes so far?

Well, no, because distribution isn't implemented yet.  Feel free to
change that. ;)  I'll also try to work on that some time, but I've got
to find a way to allocate more spare time...

- Dirk