# distribute decorator

The eugo.hpc decorator that turns a function into a distributed task, or a class into an actor. A decorated call returns a future instead of a value.

Source: https://university.eugo.io/glossary/distribute-decorator

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It is applied at the definition site rather than the call site, which is what keeps the calling code looking like ordinary Python.

## Related terms

- [Task](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/task) — One unit of distributed work: a single call to a function decorated with the distribute decorator. Tasks are stateless, so each call starts fresh.
- [Actor](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/actor) — A distributed object that holds state across many calls. Created by applying the distribute decorator to a class rather than a function.
- [Future](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/future) — A handle to a result that does not exist yet. Calling a distributed function returns a future immediately, while the work happens elsewhere.
- [eugo.hpc](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/eugo-hpc) — The Python module holding Eugo’s distributed-compute API. The top-level eugo namespace is deliberately empty; everything lives under eugo.hpc.