[plt-scheme] Unix domain sockets

On 14-Mar-07, at 5:04 PM, Robby Findler wrote:

> While it doesn't support the full, complicated sockets interface, it
> does support network communication; would that work for you?

The problem with using ordinary sockets is that socket numbers are
a very limited global "namespace".  This is workable if you are  
running one server
on a box and it has a known port number associated with it.  But if  
you are
building process "groups" on a machine you might want to start any  
number of
messaging hubs to service different groups.

This means having to choose and check a new port number to see if it  
is in use every
time a new messaging hub is started.  Using Unix domain sockets you  
avoid the problem
as the sockets are identified with filesystem paths rather than port  
numbers.  The only
downside is that the system isn't usable under Windows without  
something like
Cygwin but for my application it doesn't matter.

- Jamie