[codehero]

Pipes and named FIFOs are easy and great. I say this after implementing various IPC methods (unix domain sockets with fd passing, POSIX message queues, 0MQ, XML RPC, local TCP sockets, just to name a few). Use a simple line oriented protocol. If you are passing complex data through your IPC, you know it's time for files. Shared memory is another way to do IPC but hopefully you have robust method of detecting the liveliness of your local processes and you want to give up the Unix file paradigm.