How can I duplicate the F# discriminated union type in C#?

Question

I've created a new class called Actor which processes messages passed to it. The problem I am running into is figuring out what is the most elegant way to pass related but different messages to the Actor. My first idea is to use inheritance but it seems so bloated but it is strongly types which is a definite requirement.

Have any ideas?

Example

private abstract class QueueMessage { }

private class ClearMessage : QueueMessage 
{
    public static readonly ClearMessage Instance = new ClearMessage();

    private ClearMessage() { }
}

private class TryDequeueMessage : QueueMessage 
{
    public static readonly TryDequeueMessage Instance = new TryDequeueMessage();

    private TryDequeueMessage() { }
}

private class EnqueueMessage : QueueMessage 
{
    public TValue Item { get; private set; }

    private EnqueueMessage(TValue item)
    {
        Item = item;
    }
}

Actor Class

/// <summary>Represents a callback method to be executed by an Actor.</summary>
/// <typeparam name="TReply">The type of reply.</typeparam>
/// <param name="reply">The reply made by the actor.</param>
public delegate void ActorReplyCallback<TReply>(TReply reply);

/// <summary>Represents an Actor which receives and processes messages in concurrent applications.</summary>
/// <typeparam name="TMessage">The type of message this actor accepts.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="TReply">The type of reply made by this actor.</typeparam>
public abstract class Actor<TMessage, TReply> : IDisposable
{
    /// <summary>The default total number of threads to process messages.</summary>
    private const Int32 DefaultThreadCount = 1;


    /// <summary>Used to serialize access to the message queue.</summary>
    private readonly Locker Locker;

    /// <summary>Stores the messages until they can be processed.</summary>
    private readonly System.Collections.Generic.Queue<Message> MessageQueue;

    /// <summary>Signals the actor thread to process a new message.</summary>
    private readonly ManualResetEvent PostEvent;

    /// <summary>This tells the actor thread to stop reading from the queue.</summary>
    private readonly ManualResetEvent DisposeEvent;

    /// <summary>Processes the messages posted to the actor.</summary>
    private readonly List<Thread> ActorThreads;


    /// <summary>Initializes a new instance of the Genex.Concurrency&lt;TRequest, TResponse&gt; class.</summary>
    public Actor() : this(DefaultThreadCount) { }

    /// <summary>Initializes a new instance of the Genex.Concurrency&lt;TRequest, TResponse&gt; class.</summary>
    /// <param name="thread_count"></param>
    public Actor(Int32 thread_count)
    {
        if (thread_count < 1) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("thread_count", thread_count, "Must be 1 or greater.");

        Locker = new Locker();
        MessageQueue = new System.Collections.Generic.Queue<Message>();
        EnqueueEvent = new ManualResetEvent(true);
        PostEvent = new ManualResetEvent(false);
        DisposeEvent = new ManualResetEvent(true);
        ActorThreads = new List<Thread>();

        for (Int32 i = 0; i < thread_count; i++)
        {
            var thread = new Thread(ProcessMessages);
            thread.IsBackground = true;
            thread.Start();
            ActorThreads.Add(thread);
        }
    }


    /// <summary>Posts a message and waits for the reply.</summary>
    /// <param name="value">The message to post to the actor.</param>
    /// <returns>The reply from the actor.</returns>
    public TReply PostWithReply(TMessage message)
    {
        using (var wrapper = new Message(message))
        {
            lock (Locker) MessageQueue.Enqueue(wrapper);
            PostEvent.Set();
            wrapper.Channel.CompleteEvent.WaitOne();
            return wrapper.Channel.Value;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>Posts a message to the actor and executes the callback when the reply is received.</summary>
    /// <param name="value">The message to post to the actor.</param>
    /// <param name="callback">The callback that will be invoked once the replay is received.</param>
    public void PostWithAsyncReply(TMessage value, ActorReplyCallback<TReply> callback)
    {
        if (callback == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("callback");
        ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(state => callback(PostWithReply(value)));
    }

    /// <summary>Performs application-defined tasks associated with freeing, releasing, or resetting unmanaged resources.</summary>
    public void Dispose()
    {
        if (DisposeEvent.WaitOne(10))
        {
            DisposeEvent.Reset();
            PostEvent.Set();

            foreach (var thread in ActorThreads)
            {
                thread.Join();
            }

            ((IDisposable)PostEvent).Dispose();
            ((IDisposable)DisposeEvent).Dispose();
        }
    }

    /// <summary>Processes a message posted to the actor.</summary>
    /// <param name="message">The message to be processed.</param>
    protected abstract void ProcessMessage(Message message);

    /// <summary>Dequeues the messages passes them to ProcessMessage.</summary>
    private void ProcessMessages()
    {
        while (PostEvent.WaitOne() && DisposeEvent.WaitOne(10))
        {
            var message = (Message)null;

            while (true)
            {
                lock (Locker)
                {
                    message = MessageQueue.Count > 0 ?
                        MessageQueue.Dequeue() :
                        null;

                    if (message == null)
                    {
                        PostEvent.Reset();
                        break;
                    }
                }

                try
                {
                    ProcessMessage(message);
                }
                catch
                {

                }
            }
        }
    }


    /// <summary>Represents a message that is passed to an actor.</summary>
    protected class Message : IDisposable
    {
        /// <summary>The actual value of this message.</summary>
        public TMessage Value { get; private set; }

        /// <summary>The channel used to give a reply to this message.</summary>
        public Channel Channel { get; private set; }


        /// <summary>Initializes a new instance of Genex.Concurrency.Message class.</summary>
        /// <param name="value">The actual value of the message.</param>
        public Message(TMessage value)
        {
            Value = value;
            Channel = new Channel();
        }


        /// <summary>Performs application-defined tasks associated with freeing, releasing, or resetting unmanaged resources.</summary>
        public void Dispose()
        {
            Channel.Dispose();
        }
    }

    /// <summary>Represents a channel used by an actor to reply to a message.</summary>         
    protected class Channel : IDisposable
    {
        /// <summary>The value of the reply.</summary>
        public TReply Value { get; private set; }

        /// <summary>Signifies that the message has been replied to.</summary>
        public ManualResetEvent CompleteEvent { get; private set; }


        /// <summary>Initializes a new instance of Genex.Concurrency.Channel class.</summary>
        public Channel()
        {
            CompleteEvent = new ManualResetEvent(false);
        }

        /// <summary>Reply to the message received.</summary>
        /// <param name="value">The value of the reply.</param>
        public void Reply(TReply value)
        {
            Value = value;
            CompleteEvent.Set();
        }

        /// <summary>Performs application-defined tasks associated with freeing, releasing, or resetting unmanaged resources.</summary>
        public void Dispose()
        {
            ((IDisposable)CompleteEvent).Dispose();
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

Steve Gilham summarized how the compiler actually handles discriminated unions. For your own code, you could consider a simplified version of that. Given the following F#:

type QueueMessage<T> = ClearMessage | TryDequeueMessage | EnqueueMessage of T

Here's one way to emulate it in C#:

public enum MessageType { ClearMessage, TryDequeueMessage, EnqueueMessage }

public abstract class QueueMessage<T>
{
    // prevents unwanted subclassing
    private QueueMessage() { }

    public abstract MessageType MessageType { get; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Only applies to EnqueueMessages
    /// </summary>
    public abstract T Item { get; }

    public static QueueMessage<T> MakeClearMessage() { return new ClearMessage(); }
    public static QueueMessage<T> MakeTryDequeueMessage() { return new TryDequeueMessage(); }
    public static QueueMessage<T> MakeEnqueueMessage(T item) { return new EnqueueMessage(item); }


    private sealed class ClearMessage : QueueMessage<T>
    {
        public ClearMessage() { }

        public override MessageType MessageType
        {
            get { return MessageType.ClearMessage; }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Not implemented by this subclass
        /// </summary>
        public override T Item
        {
            get { throw new NotImplementedException(); }
        }
    }

    private sealed class TryDequeueMessage : QueueMessage<T>
    {
        public TryDequeueMessage() { }

        public override MessageType MessageType
        {
            get { return MessageType.TryDequeueMessage; }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Not implemented by this subclass
        /// </summary>
        public override T Item
        {
            get { throw new NotImplementedException(); }
        }
    }

    private sealed class EnqueueMessage : QueueMessage<T>
    {
        private T item;
        public EnqueueMessage(T item) { this.item = item; }

        public override MessageType MessageType
        {
            get { return MessageType.EnqueueMessage; }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the item to be enqueued
        /// </summary>
        public override T Item { get { return item; } }
    }
}

Now, in code that is given a QueueMessage, you can switch on the MessageType property in lieu of pattern matching, and make sure that you access the Item property only on EnqueueMessages.

EDIT

Here's another alternative, based on Juliet's code. I've tried to streamline things so that it's got a more usable interface from C#, though. This is preferable to the previous version in that you can't get a MethodNotImplemented exception.

public abstract class QueueMessage<T>
{
    // prevents unwanted subclassing
    private QueueMessage() { }

    public abstract TReturn Match<TReturn>(Func<TReturn> clearCase, Func<TReturn> tryDequeueCase, Func<T, TReturn> enqueueCase);

    public static QueueMessage<T> MakeClearMessage() { return new ClearMessage(); }
    public static QueueMessage<T> MakeTryDequeueMessage() { return new TryDequeueMessage(); }
    public static QueueMessage<T> MakeEnqueueMessage(T item) { return new EnqueueMessage(item); }

    private sealed class ClearMessage : QueueMessage<T>
    {
        public ClearMessage() { }

        public override TReturn Match<TReturn>(Func<TReturn> clearCase, Func<TReturn> tryDequeueCase, Func<T, TReturn> enqueueCase)
        {
            return clearCase();
        }
    }

    private sealed class TryDequeueMessage : QueueMessage<T>
    {
        public TryDequeueMessage() { }

        public override TReturn Match<TReturn>(Func<TReturn> clearCase, Func<TReturn> tryDequeueCase, Func<T, TReturn> enqueueCase)
        {
            return tryDequeueCase();
        }
    }

    private sealed class EnqueueMessage : QueueMessage<T>
    {
        private T item;
        public EnqueueMessage(T item) { this.item = item; }

        public override TReturn Match<TReturn>(Func<TReturn> clearCase, Func<TReturn> tryDequeueCase, Func<T, TReturn> enqueueCase)
        {
            return enqueueCase(item);
        }
    }
}

You'd use this code like this:

public class MessageUserTest
{
    public void Use()
    {
        // your code to get a message here...
        QueueMessage<string> msg = null; 

        // emulate pattern matching, but without constructor names
        int i =
            msg.Match(
                clearCase:      () => -1,
                tryDequeueCase: () => -2,
                enqueueCase:     s =>  s.Length);
    }
}