I've not had to do anything distributed with ATS that involved sharing data. I mostly used zeromq to send information around and controlled access to resources

I've not had to do anything distributed with ATS that involved sharing data. I mostly used zeromq to send information around and controlled access to resources via processes. It's a fairly steep learning curve for people new to types. Given exposure to SML it's not too hard to just use that side of things plus linear types. Dependent types and proofs add complexity but hopefully you can avoid it while learning.