static Map<S, Integer> findBot_cache = synchroHashMap();
static int findBot_timeout = 5000;

static DialogIO findBot(S searchPattern) {
  // first split off sub-bot suffix
  S subBot = null;
  int i = searchPattern.indexOf('/');
  if (i >= 0 && (isJavaIdentifier(searchPattern.substring(0, i)) || isInteger(searchPattern.substring(0, i)))) {
    subBot = searchPattern.substring(i+1);
    searchPattern = searchPattern.substring(0, i);
    if (!isInteger(searchPattern))
      searchPattern = "Multi-Port at " + searchPattern + ".";
  }
  
  // assume it's a port if it's an integer
  if (isInteger(searchPattern))
    ret talkToSubBot(subBot, talkTo(parseInt(searchPattern)));
    
  if (eq(searchPattern, "remote"))
    ret talkToSubBot(subBot, talkTo("second.tinybrain.de", 4999));
    
  Integer port = findBot_cache.get(searchPattern);
  if (port != null) try {
    DialogIO io = talkTo("localhost", port);
    io.waitForLine(/*findBot_timeout*/); // TODO: implement
    S line = io.readLineNoBlock();
    if (indexOfIgnoreCase(line, searchPattern) == 0) {
      call(io, "pushback", line); // put hello string back in
      return talkToSubBot(subBot, io);
    }
  } catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }
  
  L<ProgramScan.Program> bots = quickBotScan();
  
  // find top-level bots
  for (ProgramScan.Program p : bots) {
    if (indexOfIgnoreCase(p.helloString, searchPattern) == 0) { // strict matching - start of hello string only, but case-insensitive
      findBot_cache.put(searchPattern, p.port);
      return talkToSubBot(subBot, talkTo("localhost", p.port));
    }
  }
  
  // find sub-bots
  for (ProgramScan.Program p : bots) {
    S botName = firstPartOfHelloString(p.helloString);
    boolean isVM = startsWithIgnoreCase(p.helloString, "This is a JavaX VM.");
    boolean shouldRecurse = startsWithIgnoreCase(botName, "Multi-Port") || isVM;
        
    if (shouldRecurse) pcall-short {
      Map<Number, S> subBots = (Map) unstructure(sendToLocalBotQuietly(p.port, "list bots"));
      for (Number vport : subBots.keySet()) {
        S name = subBots.get(vport);
        if (startsWithIgnoreCase(name, searchPattern))
          ret talkToSubBot(vport.longValue(), talkTo("localhost", p.port));
      }
    }
  }
        
  ret null;
}