Isolate Agents
Description
Isolate Agents adds a new class, Agent, which is a proper implementation of
the Actor model for Dart. Where
Isolates have no mechanism for communication, Agents do. It is inspired by
Clojure’s agents.
Example usage
import 'package:isolate_agents/isolate_agents.dart';
void main() async {
Agent<int> agent = await Agent.create(1);
// The following add operation is executed in the Agent's isolate.
agent.send((int? x) => x! + 1);
assert(2 == await agent.exit());
}
Why?
After writing Dart code for a couple of years I realized I was writing the same
code over and over again in order to be able to use Isolates. Isolates don’t
fully implement the Actor model so a handshake of
SendPort
and a protocol needs to be devised for each non-trivial usage of Isolates.
Agents factor all that logic into a reusable package, eliminating the
SendPort handshake and standardizing the protocol.
