go-actor

go-actor is a lightweight library for writing concurrent programs in Go using the Actor model.

Motivation

The goal of go-actor is to bring the actor model closer to Go developers by providing a design pattern that facilitates the development of scalable and high-performance concurrent applications.

Without reusable design principles, maintaining a complex codebase can be challenging. Golang's unique concurrency model, based on goroutines and channels, naturally aligns with the actor model, making it an ideal fit for building actor-based programs.

Advantage

• Unified Design Principles: Model the entire codebase using the same principles, where each actor is a fundamental building block.
• Natural Fit with Go: Leverage Go's goroutines and channels, which directly translate to actors and mailboxes.
• Avoid Mutexes: Design systems without the need for mutexes, reducing the potential for deadlocks and improving performance in complex components.
• Optimal Scheduling: Enhance performance by optimizing for Go's goroutine scheduler.
• Easy Transition: Legacy codebases can transition to an actor-based design due to the simple interfaces provided by go-actor, allowing for seamless integration.
• Zero Overhead: Ensure optimal performance in highly concurrent environments.

Abstractions

The core abstraction layer of go-actor consists of three primary interfaces:

• actor.Actor: Represents any entity that implements the Start() and Stop() methods. Actors created using the actor.New(actor.Worker) function spawn a dedicated goroutine to execute the supplied actor.Worker.
• actor.Worker: Encapsulates the executable logic of an actor. This is the primary interface developers need to implement to define an actor's behavior.
• actor.Mailbox: An interface for message transport mechanisms between actors, created using the actor.NewMailbox(...) function.

Examples

Explore the examples repository to see go-actor in action. Reviewing these examples is highly recommended, as they will greatly enhance your understanding of the library.

// This example will demonstrate how to create actors for producer-consumer use case.
// Producer will create incremented number on every 1 second interval and
// consumer will print whatever number it receives.
func main() {
	mbx := actor.NewMailbox[int]()

	// Produce and consume workers are created with same mailbox
	// so that produce worker can send messages directly to consume worker
	p := actor.New(&producerWorker{mailbox: mbx})
	c1 := actor.New(&consumerWorker{mailbox: mbx, id: 1})

	// Note: Example creates two consumers for the sake of demonstration
	// since having one or more consumers will produce the same result. 
	// Message on stdout will be written by first consumer that reads from mailbox.
	c2 := actor.New(&consumerWorker{mailbox: mbx, id: 2})

	// Combine all actors to singe actor so we can start and stop all at once
	a := actor.Combine(mbx, p, c1, c2).Build()
	a.Start()
	defer a.Stop()
	
	// Stdout output:
	// consumed 1      (worker 1)
	// consumed 2      (worker 2)
	// consumed 3      (worker 1)
	// consumed 4      (worker 2)
	// ...

	select {}
}

// producerWorker will produce incremented number on 1 second interval
type producerWorker struct {
	mailbox actor.MailboxSender[int]
	num  int
}

func (w *producerWorker) DoWork(ctx actor.Context) actor.WorkerStatus {
	select {
	case <-ctx.Done():
		return actor.WorkerEnd

	case <-time.After(time.Second):
		w.num++
		w.mailbox.Send(ctx, w.num)

		return actor.WorkerContinue
	}
}

// consumerWorker will consume numbers received on mailbox
type consumerWorker struct {
	mailbox actor.MailboxReceiver[int]
	id  int
}

func (w *consumerWorker) DoWork(ctx actor.Context) actor.WorkerStatus {
	select {
	case <-ctx.Done():
		return actor.WorkerEnd

	case num := <-w.mailbox.ReceiveC():
		fmt.Printf("consumed %d \t(worker %d)\n", num, w.id)

		return actor.WorkerContinue
	}
}

Add-ons

While go-actor is designed to be a minimal library with lean interfaces, developers can extend its functionality with domain-specific add-ons. Some notable add-ons include:

• super: An add-on for unifying the testing of actors and workers.
• commence: An add-on that provides a mechanism for waiting for actor execution to begin.
• netbox: Mailbox implemented with different network functionality.

Pro Tips

To enhance code quality in projects that heavily rely on the actor model with go-actor, consider adhering to best practices and reviewing common hurdles for frequently encountered issues.

Design Decisions

You can find detailed design decisions here.

Versioning

The go-actor library adopts a versioning scheme structured as x.y.z.

Initially, the library will utilize the format 0.y.z as it undergoes refinement until it attains a level of stability where fundamental interfaces and core principles no longer necessitate significant alterations. Within this semantic, the y component signifies a version that is not backward-compatible. It is advisable for developers to review the release notes carefully to gain insight into these modifications. Furthermore, the final component, z, denotes releases incorporating changes that are backward-compatible.

Contribution

All contributions are useful, whether it is a simple typo, a more complex change, or just pointing out an issue. We welcome any contribution so feel free to open PR or issue.

Continue reading here.

Happy coding 🌞