Multi-standalone communication

[Richard Miller]

The computer in question is not set up with networking.
>
> If the computer is set up with networking, then you can use UDP  
> over 127.0.0.1 (sockets).
>
> You can also use files, maybe something like this.  The sender, A,  
> can write a file "tempAToB", wait until there is no "AToB" and then  
> rename "tempAToB" to "AToB".  The receiver, B, might look for the  
> new "AToB", read it, and delete it.  For very short messages, just  
> rename the file and look for changes.  You can also use multiple  
> files as a queue in alphabetical order.

Dar... I understand the plan here. My concern with this is the  
constant disk access that would need to take place. The information  
that needs to be exchanged between these two apps is directly  
connected to the users experience. So when the user presses a button  
on App A, they expect to see a rather immediate response. That  
response will be occurring in App B, but I need it to look like it's  
all one application. So App B needs to be polling every second or so,  
as does App A. Is this too much disk access or acceptable?

I've played around a little with read/write - to/from processes, but  
can't get the hang of it yet. Having had no experience with those  
functions, it may take a bit of work to get that to go. Same goes for  
sockets... no experience with that either.

And, of course... I'm really hoping to not spend a lot of hours on  
this issue.

Rob.. I'll look into Jan's socket communication library. I'm assuming  
that it is accessible to anyone who signs up with that group. Is the  
use of that approach fairly straightforward?

Also hoping to hear back from Dave on the ISM module.

Thanks all.
Richard