3 posts tagged with "Tutorial"

This article is a hands-on tutorial for the POJO-actor workflow API, focusing on the @Action annotation introduced in POJO-actor v2.14. We explain how to define workflow-callable actions in Java actors without overriding callByActionName(), using a practical example with conditional branching.

This tutorial explains the complete process of making ordinary Java classes (POJOs) callable from workflows.

Using turing83 (a Turing machine that outputs the binary representation of 1/3) as an example, we proceed through the following four steps:

1. Create POJO: An ordinary Java class with business logic
2. Create IIActorRef: An adapter to call the POJO from workflows
3. Create YAML: The workflow definition
4. Execute: Run the workflow with IIActorSystem

[YAML] → [Interpreter] → [IIActorRef] → [POJO]

POJO-actor v1.x delivers a complete actor model foundation—ActorSystem, ActorRef with tell()/ask() messaging, virtual thread-based concurrency, and work-stealing pools—all in under 800 lines of code. Virtual threads enable even an ordinary laptop to handle tens of thousands of actors effortlessly. With no reflection and full GraalVM Native Image support, it turns any POJO into an actor without modification.

Version 2.x introduces a workflow engine that enables actors to become autonomous agents --- entities that observe their environment and act according to their state.