How to convert this piece of elixir code to Erlang? - erlang

Question

There is a piece of code in elixir that checks if node is alive or not and makes some operations on the basis of that. How to implement the same functionality in erlang?
def make_distributed([head | tail],l) do
unless Node.alive?() do
try do
{ip_tuple,_,_} = head
current_ip = to_string(:inet_parse.ntoa(ip_tuple))
if current_ip === "127.0.0.1" do
if l > 1 do
make_distributed(tail,l-1)
else
IO.puts "Could not make current node distributed."
end
else
server_node_name = String.to_atom("client#" <> current_ip)
Node.start(server_node_name)
Node.set_cookie(server_node_name,:monster)
Node.connect(String.to_atom("server#" <> current_ip))
end
rescue
_ -> if l > 1, do: make_distributed(tail,l-1), else: IO.puts "Could not make current node distributed."
end
end
end
if...else works differently in erlang, and I tried changing it to that format but some of the functonalities that are there in elixir code are hard to show in erlang.

Answer 1

First, a direct translation…
make_distributed([Head | Tail], L) ->
case node:is_alive() of
false ->
false; % Not sure what unless returns if the condition is false
true ->
try
{IPTuple, _, _} = Head,
CurrentIP = iolist_to_binary(inet_parse:ntoa(IPTuple)),
case CurrentIP of
<<"127.0.0.1">> ->
case L of
L when L > 1 ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
_ ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.")
end;
_ ->
ServerNodeName = binary_to_atom(<<"client#", CurrentIP/binary>>),
net_kernel:start([ServerNodeName, longnames, 15000]),
erlang:set_cookie(ServerNodeName, monster),
net_kernel:connect_node(binary_to_atom(<<"server#", CurrentIP/binary>>))
end
catch
_:_ ->
case L of
L when L > 1 ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
_ ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.")
end
end
end.
But that's some very ugly code. Let's use pattern-matching more effectively…
make_distributed([{IPTuple, _, _} | Tail], L) ->
case node:is_alive() of
false ->
false; % Not sure what unless returns if the condition is false
true ->
try
case iolist_to_binary(inet_parse:ntoa(IPTuple)) of
<<"127.0.0.1">> when L > 1 ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
<<"127.0.0.1">> ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.");
CurrentIP ->
ServerNodeName = binary_to_atom(<<"client#", CurrentIP/binary>>),
net_kernel:start([ServerNodeName, longnames, 15000]),
erlang:set_cookie(ServerNodeName, monster),
net_kernel:connect_node(binary_to_atom(<<"server#", CurrentIP/binary>>))
end
catch
_:_ when L > 1 ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
_:_ ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.")
end
end.
Still… we don't need to check for node liveness on every recursive step, right?
maybe_make_distributed(IPTuples, L) ->
case node:is_alive() of
false ->
false; % Not sure what unless returns if the condition is false
true ->
make_distributed(IPTuples, L)
end.
make_distributed([{IPTuple, _, _} | Tail], L) ->
try
case iolist_to_binary(inet_parse:ntoa(IPTuple)) of
<<"127.0.0.1">> when L > 1 ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
<<"127.0.0.1">> ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.");
CurrentIP ->
ServerNodeName = binary_to_atom(<<"client#", CurrentIP/binary>>),
net_kernel:start([ServerNodeName, longnames, 15000]),
erlang:set_cookie(ServerNodeName, monster),
net_kernel:connect_node(binary_to_atom(<<"server#", CurrentIP/binary>>))
end
catch
_:_ when L > 1 ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
_:_ ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.")
end.
Finally, let's move the L > 1 check to its own clause like a regular recursive function…
maybe_make_distributed(IPTuples, L) ->
case node:is_alive() of
false ->
false; % Not sure what unless returns if the condition is false
true ->
make_distributed(IPTuples, L)
end.
make_distributed(_, 0) ->
io:format("Could not make current node distributed.");
make_distributed([{IPTuple, _, _} | Tail], L) ->
try
case iolist_to_binary(inet_parse:ntoa(IPTuple)) of
<<"127.0.0.1">> ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1);
CurrentIP ->
ServerNodeName = binary_to_atom(<<"client#", CurrentIP/binary>>),
net_kernel:start([ServerNodeName, longnames, 15000]),
erlang:set_cookie(ServerNodeName, monster),
net_kernel:connect_node(binary_to_atom(<<"server#", CurrentIP/binary>>))
end
catch
_:_ ->
make_distributed(Tail, L - 1)
end.
Now that's kind of the code I would write in Erlang to achieve the same goal as your Elixir code.