[erlang-questions] eep: multiple patterns

[Per Melin]

2008/5/28 Ulf Wiger (TN/EAB) <ulf.wiger@REDACTED>:
> At the risk of starting to sound like a broken record,
> I'd very much like to see suggestions that don't further
> encourage programmers to use gen_server-style programming
> where they really ought to be writing selective receive
> clauses (textbook erlang state machines).

Erlang and the BEAM have been very good to me when it comes to
degrading gracefully under too much load, and then returning to normal
once the load decreases. But one thing that has blown up my apps
several times is the performance characteristics of selective receive.

I'm not arguing against selective receive or "textbook erlang state
machines". On the contrary, I only wish I could write them more often.

For most cases it's fine, but still, these days I think long and hard
before I put a process in the state of "I'm going to ignore some
messages while I finish this task."