[erlang-questions] UNIX streams and Erlang ports

[Claes Wikstrom]

Robert Virding wrote:
> I discovered a copy of a very interesting, but rather old, paper by 
> Dennis Ritchie called "A Stream Input-Output System" from 1984. It 
> describes a new flexible system for communication between user 
> applications and devices.
> 
> "A stream is a full-duplex connection bwtween a user's process and a 
> device or pseudo device. It consists of several linearly connected 
> processing modules, and is analagous to a Shell pipeline, except that 
> data flows in both directions. The modules in a stream communicate 
> almost exclusively by passing messages to thier neighbors. ..."
> 
> It is a truly elegant concept.


Except that it was never implemented efficiently enough, thus the
port_XXX commands. Our fault. Had we done better job 13 years ago,
we'd never seen the port_XXX commands ... and more



/klacke