Tuesday, June 9, 2009

EPAPI: Erlang Port driver API library

Some time ago, I decided to turn to Erlang for my pet project (more and this in a later post). Erlang is a very nice language, it features:
  • asynchronous messaging
  • soft real-time capabilities
  • built-in multi-threading (with O(1) scheduler)
  • fault-tolerance & high availability functions (OTP release)
  • much more...
My project requires interfacing to Phidgets devices (USB connected sensors & other interface) and no Erlang client libraries exist for those so I decided to roll my own (I'll share my library at a later time).

The first step in interfacing with the Phidgets from Erlang was to devise a Port Driver library which I am making available here. For those who wish to get a taste of the API, jump directly to the documentation.

Have fun and don't hesitate to comment/contribute!