DIY Actors using Project Loom
summary
Argues that a minimal actor API is implementable with Java executors plus Loom: uses Executor.newSingleThreadExecutor for per-actor sequential scheduling and plugs a virtual thread ThreadFactory so hundreds of actors run on few platform threads. Implements ActorRef with send and ask (promise-backed), injects a Context for stop/timers/self, shows a buncher state machine and child-spawn/stop semantics, demonstrates no lost updates under 10,000 concurrent sends, and offers a simpler method-based strand alternative that passes the tests.
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chapters (14)
- 0:00DIY Actors with Loom
- 2:14Actor basics and Loom's role
- 6:28Simple bank account actor
- 10:05Actors to virtual threads
- 13:20Virtual threads solve overhead
- 15:48Actors with context interface
- 18:56Ask pattern implementation
- 21:06Safe future callbacks
- 23:17Adding timers to actors
- 25:02Self-reference in actors
- 27:52Child actors and hierarchies
- 33:13State machines with actors
- 36:06Strand pattern intro
- 39:38Conclusions and use cases
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