The actor model is a great programming model for building concurrent and distributed systems - in other words, most systems we build today! An actor is an entity with its own private state, and it can only respond to messages it receives by sending new messages, creating new actors, or changing its own behaviour. You could say that an actor is an object that takes encapsulation and independence seriously.

In this workshop we will explore the basic concepts of the actor model, by implementing a game similar to the classic game of space invaders. We will explore how this game domain can be modelled within an actor system, and learn the actor concepts like actor hierarchy, mailboxes, the actor life cycle, and common message patterns for actor systems. All while we are gradually building the game, from the laser canon controlled by the player to the army of attacking aliens, and everything else that is needed for a fully functional game.