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I've noticed that all designs I have come across can be multi-threaded using the actor mode - separating each work module into a different actor and using a message queue (for me a .NET ConcurrentQueue) to pass messages. What other good multi threaded models exist?
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We've already covered some instances where the Actor Model isn't ideal. Such as when you need a sequential order of things to happen. If you find yourself sending multiple messages and then needing to rollback those processes if one fails, you might want to reconsider using the Actor Model.
The fundamental idea of the actor model is to use actors as concurrent primitives that can act upon receiving messages in different ways: Send a finite number of messages to other actors. Spawn a finite number of new actors. Change its own internal behavior, taking effect when the next incoming message is handled.
Instead of calling methods, actors send messages to each other. Sending a message does not transfer the thread of execution from the sender to the destination. An actor can send a message and continue without blocking. Therefore, it can accomplish more in the same amount of time.
The Actor Model is a programming paradigm in which the basic unit of execution is the actor. Unlike an object in the Object Oriented Programming (OOP) paradigm where work can be done on a standalone basis, Printer.
To add to my last, there are various other multi threading models beyond CSP. This Wikipedia page lists several others like CCS, ACP, and LOTOS. Reading those articles hints at a deep and dark cavern where academics roam, waiting to pounce on a stray software developer.
The problem is that academic obscurity often means a complete lack of tools and libraries at the practical, usable level. It takes a lot of effort to convert a sound, proven academic study into a set of libraries and tools. There's little real incentive for the wider software community to take up a theoretical paper and turn it into a practical reality.
I like CSP because it's actually dead simple to implement your own CSP library based on select() or pselect(). I've done that several times now (I must learn about code re-use), plus the nice people at Kent University put together JCSP for those who like Java. I don't recommend developing in Occam (though it's still just about possible); support and maintainability are going to be issues going forward. CSP is probably the easiest one to get into, and given its good characteristics it's well worthwhile.
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