Replying to @rvirding here since it’s related to his explanation that has now really sunk in, but open to anyone.
So as I understand it, the only difference between handle_cast and handle_info is that the former is used by clients who know the API of the server in question whereas the latter is used by clients who have no idea who they are sending messages to. Is the sole advantage here having a clean API for clients who know who they are dealing with, or could one theoretically just always use handle_info with send(pid, message)?
One scenario that has just occurred to me as I typed this is when communicating with servers through a module which hides the pid. That alone makes handle_cast necessary. Uhhh, I may have just answered my own question, but is there anything else I’m not thinking of??
