# Abstraction of an actor
# It has a mailbox, can receive and process messages asynchronously
abstract class Actor
	super Thread

	# Type of the proxied class (or working class)
	type V: Object

	# The instance used to do the real work
	# i.e. the real working object
	var instance: V

	# Mailbox used to receive and process messages
	var mailbox = new Mailbox[Message].with_actor(self)

	# Is `self` working ?
	# i.e. does it have messages to process or is it processing one now ?
	var working = true

	redef fun main do
		loop
			var m = mailbox.shift
			if m isa ShutDownMessage then
				sys.active_actors.decrement
				return null
			end
			m.invoke(instance)
		end
	end

	# Ends `self`, cancel ongoing work abrutly
	# Pretty dangerous to use
	fun kill do
		var n = self.native
		if n != null then n.cancel
	end
end