A slot is a small opening on a machine. This narrow passage allows the player to bet cash on the outcome. There is a chance of winning. The payoff is usually in the form of credits, which are listed in a pay table.
Slots are also used to manage air traffic at busy airports. They accept paper tickets with bar codes.
The signals and slots mechanism is simple and well worth the effort. It’s only a small fraction of the function call cost, but it’s the quickest way to invoke a function.
While slots are typically confined to one user on a server, they can be accessed by multiple users at once. In fact, it is possible to set up a four-slot server to welcome up to four users at once.
For example, a slot receiver can line up on either side of an offense. And, because slots are public-access functions, there is nothing stopping any component from using the slot.
However, a slot is a bit trickier to implement. Firstly, the signal has to be emitted from a class that defines it. Next, there must be a context object to ensure that the receiver is executed in a relevant thread. Finally, there must be a QObject::connect() macro to connect the signal to the slot.
While slots might seem like a fad, they have applications in many industries. For instance, financial consultants may use scheduling software to make appointments for clients. Likewise, software developers might use time-slot scheduling to plan for important deadlines.