celluloid 0.2.2 → 0.5.0

data/README.md

@@ -2,18 +2,28 @@ Celluloid
 =========
 [![Build Status](http://travis-ci.org/tarcieri/celluloid.png)](http://travis-ci.org/tarcieri/celluloid)
 
-> "I thought of objects being like biological cells and/or individual 
-> computers on a network, only able to communicate with messages"  
+> "I thought of objects being like biological cells and/or individual
+> computers on a network, only able to communicate with messages"
 > _--Alan Kay, creator of Smalltalk, on the meaning of "object oriented programming"_
 
-Celluloid is a concurrent object framework for Ruby inspired by Erlang and
-the Actor model. Celluloid gives you thread-backed objects that run
-concurrently, providing the simplicity of Ruby objects for the most common
-use cases, but also the ability to call methods _asynchronously_, allowing 
-the receiver to do things in the background while the caller carries on 
-with its business. These concurrent objects are called "actors". Actors are
-somewhere in between the kind of object you're typically used to working
-with and a network service.
+Celluloid provides a simple and natural way to build fault-tolerant concurrent
+programs in Ruby. With Celluloid, you can build systems out of concurrent
+objects just as easily as you build sequential programs out of regular objects.
+Recommended for any developer, including novices, Celluloid should help ease
+your worries about building multithreaded Ruby programs.
+
+Under the hood, Celluloid wraps regular objects in threads that talk to each
+other using messages. These concurrent objects are called "actors". When a
+caller wants another actor to execute a method, it literally sends it a
+message object telling it what method to execute. The receiver listens on its
+mailbox, gets the request, runs the method, and sends the caller the result.
+The receiver processes messages in its inbox one-at-a-time, which means that
+you don't need to worry about synchronizing access to an object's instance
+variables.
+
+In addition to that, Celluloid also gives you the ability to call methods
+_asynchronously_, so the receiver to do things in the background for you
+without the caller having to sit around waiting for the result.
 
 Like Celluloid? [Join the Google Group](http://groups.google.com/group/celluloid-ruby)
 
@@ -28,47 +38,47 @@ to the JRuby executable, or set the "JRUBY_OPTS=--1.9" environment variable.
 
 Celluloid works on Rubinius in either 1.8 or 1.9 mode.
 
-Usage
------
+Basic Usage
+-----------
 
 To use Celluloid, define a normal Ruby class that includes Celluloid:
 
     class Sheen
       include Celluloid
-  
+
       def initialize(name)
         @name = name
       end
-  
+
       def set_status(status)
         @status = status
       end
-      
+
       def report
         "#{@name} is #{@status}"
       end
     end
-    
+
 Now when you create new instances of this class, they're actually concurrent
 objects, each running in their own thread:
 
     >> charlie = Sheen.new "Charlie Sheen"
      => #<Celluloid::Actor(Sheen:0x00000100a312d0) @name="Charlie Sheen">
     >> charlie.set_status "winning!"
-     => "winning!" 
+     => "winning!"
     >> charlie.report
-     => "Charlie Sheen is winning!" 
+     => "Charlie Sheen is winning!"
     >> charlie.set_status! "asynchronously winning!"
-     => nil 
+     => nil
     >> charlie.report
-     => "Charlie Sheen is asynchronously winning!" 
+     => "Charlie Sheen is asynchronously winning!"
 
-You can call methods on this concurrent object just like you would any other 
+You can call methods on this concurrent object just like you would any other
 Ruby object. The Sheen#set_status method works exactly like you'd expect,
 returning the last expression evaluated.
 
 However, Celluloid's secret sauce kicks in when you call banged predicate
-methods (i.e. methods ending in !). Even though the Sheen class has no 
+methods (i.e. methods ending in !). Even though the Sheen class has no
 set_status! method, you can still call it. Why is this? Because bang methods
 have a special meaning in Celluloid. (Note: this also means you can't define
 bang methods on Celluloid classes and expect them to be callable from other
@@ -99,7 +109,7 @@ Futures
 Futures allow you to request a computation and get the result later. There are
 two types of futures supported by Celluloid: method futures and block futures.
 Method futures work by invoking the _future_ method on an actor. This method
-is analogous to the typical _send_ method in that it takes a method name, 
+is analogous to the typical _send_ method in that it takes a method name,
 followed by an arbitrary number of arguments, and a block. Let's invoke the
 report method from the charlie object used in the above example using a future:
 
@@ -111,7 +121,7 @@ report method from the charlie object used in the above example using a future:
 The call to charlie.future immediately returns a Celluloid::Future object,
 regardless of how long it takes to execute the "report" method. To obtain
 the result of the call to "report", we call the _value_ method of the
-future object. This call will block until the value returned from the method 
+future object. This call will block until the value returned from the method
 call is available (i.e. the method has finished executing). If an exception
 occured during the method call, the call to future.value will reraise the
 same exception.
@@ -119,9 +129,9 @@ same exception.
 Futures also allow you to background the computation of any block:
 
 	>> future = Celluloid::Future.new { 2 + 2 }
-	 => #<Celluloid::Future:0x000001008425f0> 
+	 => #<Celluloid::Future:0x000001008425f0>
 	>> future.value
-	 => 4 
+	 => 4
 
 One thing to be aware of when using futures: always make sure to obtain the
 value of any future you make. Futures create a thread in the background which
@@ -142,9 +152,9 @@ class from the example above:
 
     >> supervisor = Sheen.supervise "Charlie Sheen"
      => #<Celluloid::Supervisor(Sheen) "Charlie Sheen">
- 
+
 This created a new Celluloid::Supervisor actor, and also created a new Sheen
-actor, giving its initialize method the argument "Charlie Sheen". The 
+actor, giving its initialize method the argument "Charlie Sheen". The
 _supervise_ method has the same method signature as _new_. However, rather
 than returning the newly created actor, _supervise_ returns the supervisor.
 To retrieve the actor that the supervisor is currently using, use the
@@ -154,7 +164,7 @@ Celluloid::Supervisor#actor method:
      => #<Celluloid::Supervisor(Sheen) "Charlie Sheen">
     >> charlie = supervisor.actor
      => #<Celluloid::Actor(Sheen:0x00000100a312d0)>
-     
+
 Supervisors can also automatically put actors into the actor _registry_ using
 the supervise_as method:
 
@@ -162,7 +172,7 @@ the supervise_as method:
      => #<Celluloid::Supervisor(Sheen) "Charlie Sheen">
     >> charlie = Celluloid::Actor[:charlie]
      => #<Celluloid::Actor(Sheen:0x00000100a312d0)>
- 
+
 In this case, the supervisor will ensure that an actor of the Sheen class,
 created using the given arguments, is aways available by calling
 Celluloid::Actor[:charlie]. The first argument to supervise_as is the name
@@ -180,21 +190,21 @@ that actor crashes and dies. Let's start with an example:
     class JamesDean
       include Celluloid
       class CarInMyLaneError < StandardError; end
-      
+
       def drive_little_bastard
         raise CarInMyLaneError, "that guy's gotta stop. he'll see us"
       end
     end
-    
+
 Now, let's have James drive Little Bastard and see what happens:
 
     >> james = JamesDean.new
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1068)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1068)>
     >> james.drive_little_bastard!
-     => nil 
+     => nil
     >> james
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1068) dead> 
-    
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1068) dead>
+
 When we told james asynchronously to drive Little Bastard, it killed him! If
 we were Elizabeth Taylor, co-star in James' latest film at the time of his
 death, we'd certainly want to know when he died. So how can we do that?
@@ -207,7 +217,7 @@ Elizabeth Taylor object could be notified that James Dean has crashed:
     class ElizabethTaylor
       include Celluloid
       trap_exit :actor_died
-  
+
       def actor_died(actor, reason)
         puts "Oh no! #{actor.inspect} has died because of a #{reason.class}"
       end
@@ -218,13 +228,13 @@ whenever any linked actors crashed. Now we need to link Elizabeth to James so
 James' crash notifications get sent to her:
 
     >> james = JamesDean.new
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x11b8)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x11b8)>
     >> elizabeth = ElizabethTaylor.new
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(ElizabethTaylor:0x11f0)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(ElizabethTaylor:0x11f0)>
     >> elizabeth.link james
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x11b8)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x11b8)>
     >> james.drive_little_bastard!
-     => nil 
+     => nil
     Oh no! #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x11b8) dead> has died because of a JamesDean::CarInMyLaneError
 
 Elizabeth called the _link_ method to receive crash events from James. Because
@@ -238,57 +248,57 @@ objects, one for James himself and one for Little Bastard, his car:
     class PorscheSpider
       include Celluloid
       class CarInMyLaneError < StandardError; end
-  
+
       def drive_on_route_466
         raise CarInMyLaneError, "head on collision :("
       end
     end
-    
+
     class JamesDean
       include Celluloid
-      
+
       def initialize
         @little_bastard = PorscheSpider.new_link
       end
-      
+
       def drive_little_bastard
         @little_bastard.drive_on_route_466
       end
     end
-    
+
 If you take a look in JamesDean#initialize, you'll notice that to create an
 instance of PorcheSpider, James is calling the new_link method.
 
-This method works similarly to _new_, except it combines _new_ and _link_ 
+This method works similarly to _new_, except it combines _new_ and _link_
 into a single call.
 
 Now what happens if we repeat the same scenario with Elizabeth Taylor watching
 for James Dean's crash?
 
     >> james = JamesDean.new
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1108) @little_bastard=#<Celluloid::Actor(PorscheSpider:0x10ec)>> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1108) @little_bastard=#<Celluloid::Actor(PorscheSpider:0x10ec)>>
     >> elizabeth = ElizabethTaylor.new
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(ElizabethTaylor:0x1144)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(ElizabethTaylor:0x1144)>
     >> elizabeth.link james
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1108) @little_bastard=#<Celluloid::Actor(PorscheSpider:0x10ec)>> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1108) @little_bastard=#<Celluloid::Actor(PorscheSpider:0x10ec)>>
     >> james.drive_little_bastard!
-     => nil 
+     => nil
     Oh no! #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x1108) dead> has died because of a PorscheSpider::CarInMyLaneError
 
-When Little Bastard crashed, it killed James as well. Little Bastard killed 
-James, and because Elizabeth was trapping James' exit events, she received the 
+When Little Bastard crashed, it killed James as well. Little Bastard killed
+James, and because Elizabeth was trapping James' exit events, she received the
 notification of James' death.
 
-Actors that are linked together propagate their error messages to all other 
+Actors that are linked together propagate their error messages to all other
 actors that they're linked to. Unless those actors are trapping exit events,
-those actors too will die, like James did in this case. If you have many, 
+those actors too will die, like James did in this case. If you have many,
 many actors linked together in a large object graph, killing one will kill them
 all unless they are trapping exits.
 
 This allows you to factor your problem into several actors. If an error occurs
 in any of them, it will kill off all actors used in a particular system. In
 general, you'll probably want to have a supervisor start a single actor which
-is in charge of a particular part of your system, and have that actor 
+is in charge of a particular part of your system, and have that actor
 new_link to other actors which are part of the same system. If any error
 occurs in any of these actors, all of them will be killed off and the entire
 subsystem will be restarted by the supervisor in a clean state.
@@ -303,11 +313,11 @@ Celluloid lets you register actors so you can refer to them symbolically.
 You can register Actors using Celluloid::Actor[]:
 
     >> james = JamesDean.new
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x80c27ce0)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x80c27ce0)>
     >> Celluloid::Actor[:james] = james
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x80c27ce0)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x80c27ce0)>
     >> Celluloid::Actor[:james]
-     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x80c27ce0)> 
+     => #<Celluloid::Actor(JamesDean:0x80c27ce0)>
 
 The Celluloid::Actor constant acts as a hash, allowing you to register actors
 under the name of your choosing, and access actors by name rather than
@@ -331,22 +341,22 @@ send them a value in the process:
 	class SignalingExample
 	  include Celluloid
 	  attr_reader :signaled
-  
+
 	  def initialize
 	    @signaled = false
 	  end
-  
+
 	  def wait_for_signal
 	    value = wait :ponycopter
 	    @signaled = true
 	    value
 	  end
-  
+
 	  def send_signal(value)
 	    signal :ponycopter, value
 	  end
 	end
-	
+
 The wait_for_signal method in turn calls a method called "wait". Wait suspends
 the running method until another method of the same object calls the "signal"
 method with the same label.
@@ -354,19 +364,156 @@ method with the same label.
 The send_signal method of this class does just that, signaling "ponycopter"
 with the given value. This value is returned from the original wait call.
 
+Handling I/O with Celluloid::IO
+-------------------------------
+
+Celluloid provides a separate class of actors which run alongside I/O
+operations. These actors are slower and more heavyweight and should only be
+used when writing actors that also handle IO operations. Every IO actor will
+use 2 file descriptors (it uses a pipe for signaling), so use them sparingly
+and only when directly interacting with IO.
+
+To create an IO actor, include Celluloid::IO:
+
+    class IOActor
+      include Celluloid::IO
+
+      def initialize(sock)
+        @sock = sock
+      end
+
+      def read
+        wait_readable(@sock) do
+          @sock.read_nonblock
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+The Celluloid::IO#wait_readable and #wait_writeable methods suspend execution
+of the current method until the given IO object is ready to be read from or
+written to respectively. In the meantime, the current actor will continue
+processing incoming messages, allowing it to respond to method requests even
+while a method (or many methods) are waiting on IO objects.
+
 Logging
 -------
 
 By default, Celluloid will log any errors and backtraces from any crashing
 actors to STDOUT. However, if you wish you can use any logger which is
-compatible with the standard Ruby Logger API. For example, if you're using
-Celluloid within a Rails application, you'll probably want to do:
+duck typed with the standard Ruby Logger API (i.e. it implements the #error
+method). For example, if you're using Celluloid within a Rails
+application, you'll probably want to do:
 
     Celluloid.logger = Rails.logger
- 
+
+The logger class you specify must be thread-safe, although with a logging
+API about the worst you have to worry about with thread safety bugs is
+out-of-order messages in the log.
+
+Implementation and Gotchas
+--------------------------
+
+Celluloid is fundamentally a messaging system which uses thread-safe proxies
+to manage all inter-object communication in the system. While the goal of
+these proxies is to make it simple for you to write concurrent programs by
+applying the uniform access principle to thread-safe inter-object messaging,
+you can't simply forget they're there.
+
+The thread-safety guarantees Celluloid provides around synchronizing access to
+instance variables only work so long as all access to actors go through the
+proxy objects. If the real objects that Celluloid is wrapping in an actor
+manage to leak out of the system, all hell will break loose.
+
+Here are a few rules you can follow to keep this from happening:
+
+1. ***NEVER RETURN SELF*** (or pass self as an argument to other actors): in
+   cases where you want to pass an actor around to other actors or threads,
+   use Celluloid.current_actor. If you grab the latest master of Celluloid
+   off of Github, you can just use the #current_actor method when you are
+   inside of an actor itself.
+
+2. Don't mutate the state of objects you've sent in calls to other actors:
+   This means you must think about data in one of two different ways: either
+   you "fire and forget" the data, leaving it for other actors to do with
+   what they will, or you must treat it as immutable if you have any plans
+   of sharing it with other actors. If you're paranoid (and when you're
+   dealing with concurrency, there's nothing wrong with being paranoid),
+   you can freeze objects so you can detect subsequent mutations (or rather,
+   turn attempts at mutation into errors).
+
+3. Don't mix Ruby thread primitives and calls to other actors: if you make
+   a call to another actor with a mutex held, you're doing it wrong. It's
+   perfectly fine and strongly encouraged to call out to thread safe
+   libraries from Celluloid actors. However, if you're using libraries that
+   acquire mutexes and then execute callbacks (e.g. they take a block while
+   they're holding a mutex) the guarantees that Celluloid provides will
+   become weak and you may encounter deadlocks.
+
+4. Use Fibers at your own risk: Celluloid employs Fibers as an intrinsic part
+   of how it implements actors. While it's possible for certain uses of Fibers
+   to cooperatively work alongside how Celluloid behaves, in most cases you'll
+   be writing a check you can't afford. So please ask yourself: why are you
+   using Fibers, and why can't it be solved by a block? If you've got a really
+   good reason and you're feeling lucky, knock yourself out.
+
+On Thread Safety in Ruby
+------------------------
+
+Ruby actually has a pretty good story when it comes to thread safety. The best
+strategy for thread safety is to share as little state as possible, and if
+you do share state, you should never mutate it. The worry of anyone stepping
+into a thread safe world is that you're using a bunch of legacy libraries with
+dubious thread safety. Who knows what those crazy library authors were doing?
+
+Relax people. You're using a language where somebody can change what the '+'
+operator does to numbers. So why aren't we afraid to add numbers? Who knows
+what those crazy library authors may have done! Instead of freaking out, we
+can learn some telltale signs of things that will cause thread safety problems
+in Ruby programs so we can identify potential problem libraries just from how
+their APIs behave.
+
+The #1 thread safety issue to look out for in a Ruby library is if it provides
+some sort of singleton access to a particular object through a class method,
+e.g MyClass.zomgobject, as opposed to asking you do do MyClass.new. If you
+aren't allocating the object, it isn't yours, it's somebody else's, and you
+better damn well make sure you can share nice, or you shouldn't play with it
+at all.
+
+How do we share nicely? Let's find out by first looking at a thread-unsafe
+version of a singleton method:
+
+    class Foo
+      def self.current
+        @foo ||= Foo.new
+      end
+    end
+
+Seems bad. All threads will share access to the same Foo object, and there's
+also a secondary bug here which means when the object is first being allocated
+and memoized as @foo. The first thread that tries to allocate it may get a
+different version than all the other threads because the memo value it set
+got clobbered by another thread because it's unsynchronized.
+
+What else can we do? It depends on why the library is memoizing. Perhaps the
+Foo object has some kind of setup cost, such as making a network connection,
+and we want to keep it around instead of setting it up and tearing it down
+every time. If that's the case, the simplest thing we can do to make this
+code thread safe is to create a thread-specific memo of the object:
+
+    class Foo
+      def self.current
+        Thread.current[:foo] ||= Foo.new
+      end
+    end
+
+Keep in mind that this will require N Foo objects for N threads. If each
+object is wrapping a network connection, this might be a concern. That said,
+if you see this pattern employed in the singleton methods of a library,
+it's most likely thread safe, provided that Foo doesn't do other wonky things.
+
 Contributing to Celluloid
 -------------------------
- 
+
 * Fork Celluloid on github
 * Make your changes and send me a pull request
 * If I like them I'll merge them and give you commit access to my repository