Actor Model
The Actor model encapsulates computation into independent actors that communicate via asynchronous messages with no shared memory, concurrency-safe by nature.
Purpose
A concurrency model without shared state, simplifying distributed and concurrent programming.
Mechanism
Each actor has private state and a mailbox. Actors interact only by sending asynchronous messages and process them in message order. Actors can spawn child actors. Erlang/Akka use this model to build highly fault-tolerant systems. Location transparency enables distribution.
Use cases
- Concurrent programming
- Distributed systems
- Fault-tolerant design