How to write a timer actor in Scala?

Question

I need an actor to send a message every minute. How do I best achieve this behaviour? I am afraid of using java.lang.Thread.sleep(long millis) as a thread can b

Answer 1

import scala.actors._
class Wakeup[A](millis: Int, who: ReplyReactor, alarm: A) extends Thread {
  val done = new java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean(false)
  override def run {
    while (!done.get()) {
      who ! alarm
      Thread.sleep(millis)
    }
  }
}
case object BEEP {}
val a = new ReplyReactor { def act { loop { react {
  case BEEP => println("Wha?!  "+new java.util.Date)
  case _ =>
}}}}
val b = new Wakeup(60000,a,BEEP)
a.start

Why use an actor when a thread is what you want?

scala> b.start

scala> Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:43:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:44:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:45:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:46:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:47:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:48:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:49:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:50:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:51:18 EST 2011
Wha?!  Mon Nov 07 18:52:18 EST 2011