A Joeish Erlang distribution (long)

[Vlad Dumitrescu (EAW)]

Hi,

> Erlang is ready for an alternative distribution.

I won't comment on that part yet, I have to think more about it, but it might be a good idea. There have actually been some separate distributions (although not public ones, I think). The most proeminent is Hipe, before getting integrated with the mainstrean distribution.

> * = For example: mnemosyne is out, yaws replaces inets. Joe's !!
>      addition is in (http://www.sics.se/~joe/nerl.html) etc.

Having read Joe's ideas about "everything is a process" and appreciating the power of such an abstraction, I have also been struck by a different kind of revelation. 

If we take this "everything is a process" idea, and put it beside another of Joe's ideas, UBF and the contracted communication protocols, I think it begins to look *very* similar to an OO setting! Knowing Joe's opinion about OO, it may be just an artifact, but it might also show that it is a way worth investigating (given that IMHO the OO paradigm isn't flawed in itself, just the way it is implemented today). 

The link to Cecil that Daniel posted opens another interesting view that I confess didn't consider before - the classless object system, which might translate here into a dynamic UBF contract system, or  dynamic gen_server behaviours... 

Just some wild ideas. 

I look forward to hearing Joe's comments (and everybody else's as well, of course!). 
regards,
Vlad