Overview¶
Compiling CAF requires CMake and a recent C++ compiler. To get and compile the sources on UNIX-like systems, type the following in a terminal:
git clone https://github.com/actor-framework/actor-framework
cd actor-framework
./configure
make -C build
make -C build install [as root, optional]
Running configure
is not a mandatory step. The script merely automates the
CMake setup and makes setting build options slightly more convenient. On
Windows, use CMake directly to generate an MSVC project file.
Features¶
- Lightweight, fast and efficient actor implementations
- Network transparent messaging
- Error handling based on Erlang’s failure model
- Pattern matching for messages as internal DSL to ease development
- Thread-mapped actors for soft migration of existing applications
- Publish/subscribe group communication
Supported Operating Systems¶
- Linux
- Windows
- macOS
- FreeBSD
Hello World Example¶
#include "caf/actor_ostream.hpp"
#include "caf/actor_system.hpp"
#include "caf/caf_main.hpp"
#include "caf/event_based_actor.hpp"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace caf;
behavior mirror(event_based_actor* self) {
// return the (initial) actor behavior
return {
// a handler for messages containing a single string
// that replies with a string
[=](const std::string& what) -> std::string {
// prints "Hello World!" via aout (thread-safe cout wrapper)
aout(self) << what << std::endl;
// reply "!dlroW olleH"
return std::string{what.rbegin(), what.rend()};
},
};
}
void hello_world(event_based_actor* self, const actor& buddy) {
// send "Hello World!" to our buddy ...
self->request(buddy, std::chrono::seconds(10), "Hello World!")
.then(
// ... wait up to 10s for a response ...
[=](const std::string& what) {
// ... and print it
aout(self) << what << std::endl;
});
}
void caf_main(actor_system& sys) {
// create a new actor that calls 'mirror()'
auto mirror_actor = sys.spawn(mirror);
// create another actor that calls 'hello_world(mirror_actor)';
sys.spawn(hello_world, mirror_actor);
// the system will wait until both actors are done before exiting the program
}
// creates a main function for us that calls our caf_main
CAF_MAIN()