"raw" or "verbatim" PIDs?

[Thomas Lindgren]

--- Jon Slenk <jonslenk@REDACTED> wrote:

> Ah, I finally figured out that I can use
> list_to_pid(), although there are 
> dire warnings in the documentation that it and
> pid_to_list() should not be 
> used in application code. (Is there a "constructor"
> for PIDs, or does one 
> have to use list_to_pid()?)

PIDs are normally considered opaque handles (if you
will) to processes, and ordinary usage is to construct
PIDs with spawn/spawn_link/self, then pass them
around.  

As far as I know, the list_to_pid/1 and pid/3
functions are basically intended for debugging. There
are more such convenience functions (e.g.,
processes/0) but using them in applications can lead
to a system which is quite difficult to understand --
hence the warnings.

Best,
Thomas


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