Abstraction and modularity mechanisms for concurrent computing

Abstract

The Actor model programming language concept, which provides basic building blocks for a wide variety of computational structures, is reviewed. The Actor model unifies objects and concurrency. Actors are autonomous, distributed, concurrently executing objects that can send each other messages asynchronously. The Actor model's communication abstractions and object-oriented design are discussed. Three mechanisms for developing modular and reusable components for concurrent systems are also discussed. The mechanism are synchronizers, modular specifications of resource management policies, and protocol customization of dependability.<>