Legacy of PlayGetting Started with ZeroMQ
A surprisingly frequent topic of discussion with me is ZeroMQ, especially regarding how to get started using ZeroMQ. Along with that usually comes some desire for starting into distributed systems architecture, programming, or the like.
I cannot recommend The Guide enough. It's well-written, topical, and (most importantly) enjoyable.
If you know C, follow along with the examples in Zero's native language. If you don't know C, learn C, an immensely valuable skill in its own right. (Or, if you must, use a binding in your language of choice. But please, understand what that entails: everything you're writing has to go through a translator, inhibiting your ability to speak Zero natively.) No matter how you go through the guide, you'll get an appreciation and understanding of Zero, but you'll also get an appreciation and understanding of how distributed systems really work. It's a trip, and Pieter does a fantastic job of guiding us through it.
As if I'm some sort of paragon for how one uses Zero in Node, that's usually the next point of discussion. Might I suggest zmq-stream? It's a little closer to "the metal", and is a more representative (in my not-so-humble opinion) of the ways you use Zero to build applications, rather than just demos. Distributed, low-latency, cross-language, heavy-work applications.
13th of June, 2013
