Jason Johnson wrote:
Of course the one thing I have to disagree with in your message is the comment about an object responding to multiple messages. I wouldn't want that. If you want an object to respond to more messages concurrently make more of them.
Hi,
If you make more of them then they aren't the same object! That could have wide implications for an object graph. Identity is an important concept especially in large object graphs.
Also, if you do make more than one of the object you have to concurrently synchronize any changes between it's copies unless of course it's the simple case where the objects are read only.
Simplification can get one in trouble when it comes to concurrency, distribution and other areas of computing. Part of that trouble is thinking that ones solution is general when it just covers a subset of the desired solution space. This is why discussion is a good thing as it tends to reveal the blind spots that one has. This goes for me too!
Thanks by the way for the correction about Erlang being able to "message" more than simple data types across it's wire. I'd forgotten that part.
All the best,
Peter