README

OVERVIEW
========
Ach is an Inter-Process Communication (IPC) mechanism and library. It
is especially suited for communication in real-time systems that
sample data from physical processes. Ach eliminates the Head-of-Line
Blocking problem for applications that always require access to the
newest message. Ach is efficient, robust, and formally verified. It
has been tested and demonstrated on a variety of physical robotic
systems. Source code for Ach is available under an Open Source
BSD-style license.

INSTALLATION
============
    ./configure && make && make install

See the INSTALL file for details.

DOCUMENTATION
=============
* Manual: http://code.golems.org/pkg/ach/manual
          and `./doc/manual/ach-manual.html`
* API docs: http://code.golems.org/pkg/ach/api
            and `./doc/html`
* Man Pages: http://code.golems.org/pkg/ach/man
             and `./doc/man`
* Papers:
  * [Unix Philosophy and the Real World: Control Software for Humanoid Robots](http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2016.00006).
    Frontiers in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. 2016.
  * [The Ach Library](http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2014.2356937).
    IEEE RAM. 2015.
  * [Multi-Process Control Software for HUBO2 Plus robot](http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TePRA.2013.6556374).
    TEPRA. 2013.
  * [Robust and Efficient Communication for Real-Time Multi-Process Robot Software](http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2012.6651538).
    HUMANOIDS. 2012.
* Example Code: `./src/ach-example.c`

See `./INSTALL` for details on generating the documentation.

MAILING LISTS
=============
* Announcements: http://groups.google.com/group/ach-announce
* General Help: http://groups.google.com/group/ach-help
* Development: http://groups.google.com/group/ach-devel

LANGUAGE BINDINGS
=================
Language bindings are included for Common Lisp, Python, and Java.

* Common Lisp bindings use CFFI and can be loaded with ASDF.

* Python bindings are a C extension module and a Python module 'ach'.
  This can be installed either via `make install` or via Python's
  distutils/pip.

* C++ bindings wrap the C API.
  See `./include/Ach.hpp`

* Java bindings via the Java Native Interface (JNI).
  See `./doc/javadoc` or
       http://code.golems.org/pkg/ach/javadoc/

See the INSTALL file for details.

FORMAL MODEL
============
Ach has been formally verified using the SPIN model checker.  This
formal model is included in the source distribution under the `./spin/`
directory.

CITATION
========
If you find Ach useful for your research, we hope you will consider
citing our relevant publications.


    @ARTICLE{10.3389/frobt.2016.00006,
        author={Dantam, Neil T. and Bøndergaard, Kim and Johansson, Mattias A. and Furuholm, Tobias and Kavraki, Lydia E.},
        title={Unix Philosophy and the Real World: Control Software for Humanoid Robots},
        journal={Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
        volume={3},
        pages={6},
        year={2016},
        url={https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2016.00006},
        doi={10.3389/frobt.2016.00006},
        issn={2296-9144},
    }

    @ARTICLE{7012101,
          author={N. T. {Dantam} and D. M. {Lofaro} and A. {Hereid} and P. Y. {Oh} and A. D. {Ames} and M. {Stilman}},
          journal={IEEE Robotics Automation Magazine},
          title={The Ach Library: A New Framework for Real-Time Communication},
          year={2015},
          volume={22},
          number={1},
          pages={76-85},
          doi={10.1109/MRA.2014.2356937},
          issn={1070-9932},
          month={March},
    }

    @INPROCEEDINGS{6556374,
        author={M. X. {Grey} and N. {Dantam} and D. M. {Lofaro} and A. {Bobick} and M. {Egerstedt} and P. {Oh} and M. {Stilman}},
        booktitle={2013 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications (TePRA)},
        title={Multi-process control software for HUBO2 Plus robot},
        year={2013},
        volume={},
        number={},
        pages={1-6},
        doi={10.1109/TePRA.2013.6556374},
        ISSN={2325-0534},
        month={April},
    }

    @INPROCEEDINGS{6651538,
        author={N. {Dantam} and M. {Stilman}},
        booktitle={2012 12th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2012)},
        title={Robust and efficient communication for real-time multi-process robot software},
        year={2012},
        volume={},
        number={},
        pages={316-322},
        doi={10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2012.6651538},
        ISSN={2164-0572},
        month={Nov},
    }