CL-GSERVER.ACTOR
tell ACTOR MESSAGE &OPTIONAL &OPTIONAL SENDER → result
ACTOR
:
a
T
MESSAGE
:
a
T
&OPTIONAL
:
a
T
SENDER
:
a
T
result
: a T.
Sends a message to the `actor'. `tell' is asynchronous. There is no result. If a `sender' is specified a message result of the target actor of the `tell' will be sent back to the `sender'
Generally =tell= does not expect a response. But a 'sender' can be specified as optionl parameter to =tell=. If a 'sender' is specified, then the message handling behavior will send the ~car~ of the ~cons~ result to the specified 'sender'.
A 'sender' can also be part of the message contract.
=tell= can be used in two environments:
1. outside an actor
By default this sends a message as fire & forget. Since this is not inside an actor, no actor can be inferred as 'sender'. A 'sender' can be defined as optional parameter as part of =tell=.
2. inside an actors as part of the 'receive' function
As 'sender' can be specified when =tell= is used inside of an actor. Currently the framework doesn't automatically infer the 'sender' when no 'sender' is explicitly specified.
=> This is a future enhancement.