[erlang-questions] clarify: Sending big messages

[Gleb Peregud]

Hi,

afaik, returning big terms will not degrade performance, since they
are not copied - it is just "returning by reference". It also applies
to big binaries. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Sending terms in a message involves copying, except for binaries
larger than 64bytes, which are referenced (and reference counted).
Hence you are absolutely right about rpc invoking.

BR,
Gleb

On 10/22/08, Zoltan Peter Toth <zoltan.peter.toth@REDACTED> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We have a function like this:
>
> deliver(Port, Data) ->
>     Port ! {data, Data}.
>
> This function returns Data.
> Let's assume we want to send a big binary. If we call deliver(Port,
> BigBinary), is there any performance
> penalty that results from handling the return value (that equals
> BigBinary) ?
>
> Can it cause extra CPU/memory consumption later on e.g. during garbage
> collection ?
>
> I.e. is it worth changing deliver() to return just ok ?
> (This would be probably a good idea if this function is invoked via rpc.)
>
> Best regs,
>    /Zoltan
>
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Gleb Peregud
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