File 3532-Reference-manual-Improve-documentation-of-the-pid-ty.patch of Package erlang
From 38ade3eb69faf1fa6c25d1b703cb92944a2603ad Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Rickard Green <rickard@erlang.org>
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2021 23:00:31 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/6] Reference manual: Improve documentation of the 'pid' type
---
system/doc/reference_manual/data_types.xml | 35 +++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/system/doc/reference_manual/data_types.xml b/system/doc/reference_manual/data_types.xml
index 9405dca0a1..297a3c21a2 100644
--- a/system/doc/reference_manual/data_types.xml
+++ b/system/doc/reference_manual/data_types.xml
@@ -200,22 +200,29 @@ phone_number
</section>
<section>
- <title>Pid</title>
- <p>A process identifier, pid, identifies a process.</p>
- <p>The following BIFs, which are used to create processes, return
- values of this data type:</p>
- <list type="bulleted">
- <item><c>spawn/1,2,3,4</c></item>
- <item><c>spawn_link/1,2,3,4</c></item>
- <item><c>spawn_opt/4</c></item>
- </list>
+ <title>PID</title>
+ <p>
+ PID is an abbreviation for process identifier. Each process has
+ a PID which identifies the process. PIDs are unique among processes
+ that are alive on connected nodes. However, a PID of a terminated
+ process may be reused as a PID for a new process after a while.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The BIF <seealso marker="erts:erlang#self/0"><c>self/0</c></seealso>
+ returns the PID of the calling process. When
+ <seealso marker="processes#process-creation">creating a new
+ process</seealso>, the parent process will be able to get the PID
+ of the child process either via the return value, as is the case
+ when calling the <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn/3"><c>spawn/3</c></seealso>
+ BIF, or via a message, which is the case when calling the
+ <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn_request/5"><c>spawn_request/5</c></seealso>
+ BIF. A PID is typically used when when sending a process a
+ <seealso marker="processes#signals">signal</seealso>. The
+ <seealso marker="erts:erlang#is_pid/1"><c>is_pid/1</c></seealso>
+ BIF can be used to test whether a term is a PID.
+ </p>
<p><em>Example:</em></p>
<pre>
-1> <input>spawn(m, f, []).</input>
-<0.51.0></pre>
- <p>In the following example, the BIF <c>self()</c> returns
- the pid of the calling process:</p>
- <pre>
-module(m).
-export([loop/0]).
--
2.26.2