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https://github.com/actor-framework/actor-framework

An Open Source Implementation of the Actor Model in C++
https://github.com/actor-framework/actor-framework

actor-model actors async caf pattern-matching

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An Open Source Implementation of the Actor Model in C++

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README 

        
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# What is CAF?



CAF is an open source framework that offers a programming environment based on

the [Actor Model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor_model) of computation

combined with a [scalable](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2541329.2541336),

[native](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1477842416000038)

runtime environment that lets you build applications at a high level of

abstraction without sacrificing performance. Whether you are targeting a single

machine, a data center, or the cloud, CAF provides the necessary tools to

implement robust, scalable, and maintainable software.



CAF features lightweight & fast actor implementations, data flows, HTTP and

WebSocket support, pattern matching for messages, metrics, distributed actors,

and more. Professional support, training, and consulting are available from

[Interance](https://www.interance.io), the company behind CAF.



## Online Resources



* __Homepage__: https://www.actor-framework.org

* __Guides and Tutorials__: https://www.interance.io/learning

* __Manual__: https://actor-framework.readthedocs.io

* __Doxygen__: https://www.actor-framework.org/doxygen

* __Developer Blog__: https://www.actor-framework.org/blog



## Report Bugs and Get Help



* __Open Issues on GitHub__: https://github.com/actor-framework/actor-framework/issues/new

* __Ask Questions on StackOverflow__: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask?tags=c%2b%2b-actor-framework



## Community



* __Chat__: https://gitter.im/actor-framework/chat

* __Mastodon__: https://fosstodon.org/@caf

* __Twitter__: https://twitter.com/actor_framework

* __Mailing List__: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/actor-framework



## Get CAF



We do not officially maintain packages for CAF. However, some of our community

members made packages available for these package managers:



- [Conan](https://conan.io/center/caf)

- [FreeBSD Ports](https://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/devel/caf)

- [Homebrew](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/caf).

- [VCPKG](https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg/tree/master/ports/caf)

- [Fedora](https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/actor-framework)



## Get the Sources



```sh

git clone https://github.com/actor-framework/actor-framework.git

cd actor-framework

```



## Build CAF from Source



CAF uses [CMake](http://www.cmake.org) as its build system of choice. To make

building CAF more convenient from the command line, we provide a `configure`

script that wraps the CMake invocation. The script only works on UNIX systems.

On Windows, we recommend generating an MSVC project file via CMake for native

builds.



### Using the `configure` Script



The script is a convenient frontend for `CMake`. See `configure -h` for a list

of available options. By default, the script creates a `build` directory and

asks CMake to generate a `Makefile`. A build with default settings generally

follows these steps:



```sh

./configure

cd build

make

make test [optional]

make install [as root, optional]

```



### Using CMake



To generate a Makefile for building CAF with default settings, either use a

CMake GUI or perform this step on the command line:



```sh

cmake -S  -B build

```



After this step, `cmake -LH` prints the most useful configuration options for

CAF, their default value, and a helptext.



Other CMake projects can add CAF as a dependency by using `find_package` and

listing the required modules (e.g., `core` or `net`) . When installing CAF to a

non-standard location, set `CAF_ROOT` prior to calling `find_package`.



## Dependencies



* CMake (for building CAF)

* OpenSSL (when building the `openssl` or `net` module)



## Supported Platforms



C++ is an evolving language. Compiler vendors constantly add more language and

standard library features. Since CAF runs on many platforms, this means we need

a policy that on the one hand ensures that we only use a widely supported subset

of C++ and on the other hand that we naturally progress with the shifting

landscape to eventually catch up to more recent C++ additions (in order to not

"get stuck").



So instead of singling out individual compiler versions, we build CAF for each

commit on all platforms that we currently deem relevant. Everything that passes

our CI is "fair game".



Our CI covers Windows (latest MSVC release), macOS (latest Xcode release),

FreeBSD (latest) and several Linux distributions (via the Docker images found

[here](https://github.com/actor-framework/actor-framework/tree/main/.ci)). For

Linux, we aim to support the current releases (that still receive active

support) for the major distributions. Note that we do not build on Linux

distributions with rolling releases, because they generally provide more recent

build tools than distributions with traditional release schedules and thus would

only add redundancy.



## Build Documentation Locally



- Building an offline version of the manual requires

  [Sphinx](https://www.sphinx-doc.org):

  ```sh

  cd manual

  sphinx-build . html

  ```

- Building an offline version of the API reference documentation requires

  [Doxygen](http://www.doxygen.nl) (simply run the  `doxygen` command at the

  root directory of the repository).



## Scientific Use



If you use CAF in a scientific context, please use one of the following citations:



```bibtex

@inproceedings{cshw-nassp-13,

  author = {Dominik Charousset and Thomas C. Schmidt and Raphael Hiesgen and Matthias W{\"a}hlisch},

  title = {{Native Actors -- A Scalable Software Platform for Distributed, Heterogeneous Environments}},

  booktitle = {Proc. of the 4rd ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Systems, Programming, and Applications (SPLASH '13), Workshop AGERE!},

  pages = {87--96},

  month = {Oct.},

  year = {2013},

  publisher = {ACM},

  address = {New York, NY, USA}

}



@article{chs-rapc-16,

  author = {Dominik Charousset and Raphael Hiesgen and Thomas C. Schmidt},

  title = {{Revisiting Actor Programming in C++}},

  journal = {Computer Languages, Systems \& Structures},

  volume = {45},

  year = {2016},

  month = {April},

  pages = {105--131},

  publisher = {Elsevier}

}

```



You can find the papers online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2541329.2541336 and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cl.2016.01.002.



[docs-badge]: https://readthedocs.org/projects/actor-framework/badge/?version=latest



[gitter-badge]: https://img.shields.io/badge/gitter-join%20chat%20%E2%86%92-brightgreen.svg



[coverage-badge]: https://codecov.io/gh/actor-framework/actor-framework/graph/badge.svg?token=SjJQQ5dCbV