Better model messages

src/development/design/actor.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ It reduces work of implementation, and all implementations can use the functions
 ```rust
 // Different possible types of actors (more to be added)
 enum ActorType {
-    GUI(Widget),
+    GUI(photon::Widget),
     ProgramInterface,
 }
 
@@ -62,19 +62,24 @@ impl Actor {
 }
 
 impl KeyPair {
-    fn generate_keypair(&mut self) -> Self;
+    async fn generate_keypair(&mut self) -> Self; // Generate a public/private keypair (threaded)
-    fn get_pubkey(&self) -> u128;
+    fn get_pubkey(&self) -> u128; // Return the keypair of an Actor
-    fn sign(&self, &[u8]) -> Result<&[u8], Error>;
+    async fn sign(&self, &[u8]) -> Result<&[u8], Error>; // Sign some data with a private key (threaded)
-    fn verify_signature(&[u8], u128) -> Result<(), Error>;
+    async fn verify_signature(&[u8], u128) -> Result<(), Error>; // Verify signed data (threaded)
 }
 
 trait FilesystemInterface { // Interfacing with the filesystem
-    fn read(&mut self) -> Result<(), Error>; // Read the data from the disk into the Actor using the Uuid as a search key
+    async fn read(&mut self) -> Result<(), Error>; // Read the data from the disk into the Actor using the Uuid as a search key
-    fn write(&self) -> Result<(), Error>; // Write the data to the disk using the Uuid as a key
+    async fn write(&self) -> Result<(), Error>; // Write the data to the disk using the Uuid as a key
 }
 
 trait DataInterface { // Necessary data functions
-    fn to_bytes(&self) -> Result<&[u8], Error>; // Convert the data into a byte array
+    async fn to_bytes(&self) -> Result<&[u8], Error>; // Convert the data into a byte array
+}
+
+trait MessageInterface { // Sending & receiving messages
+    async fn send_message(&self, MessageType, Uuid) -> Result<(), Error>; // Send a message to a recipient
+    async fn receive_message(&self, Channel) -> Message; // Asynchronously wait for an incoming message, and deal with the first one we get
 }
 ```
 
@@ -85,7 +90,20 @@ trait DataInterface { // Necessary data functions
 - [postcard](https://lib.rs/crates/postcard) for message passing
 - Priority Queue for processing multiple messages, while dealing with higher-priority ones first
 
+Messages will be fully modelled so an actor can know *exactly* what they have to deal with, and what they can send.
+Different channels are used to make each one less clogged up, and used only for a specific purpose.
+Actors can read from/write to a specific channel, allowing them to ignore the others.
+They can then also deal with channels in different ways, maybe deprioritizing the `Test` channel.
+
 ```rust
+enum Channel { // Channels for sending/receiving messages on
+    Graphics, // Low-latency graphics updates
+    Test, // Designated channel for testing messages
+    Filesystem, // Batch filesystem operations
+    Print, // Printing text
+    Executable, // Executable-related messages
+}
+
 enum ProcessCode {
     Exit, // Exit the process
     Save, // Save data
@@ -102,6 +120,7 @@ enum MessageType {
 }
 
 struct Message {
+    id: Uuid, // UUID of the message itself
     m_type: MessageType, // Message type & content
     priority: u8, // For priority queueing
     sender: Uuid, // Who is sending the message
@@ -109,4 +128,15 @@ struct Message {
 }
 ```
 
+An example message handling loop may look like this:
+```rust
+loop { // Continuously loop through message sending & receiving
+    actor.send_message(MessageType::Ping("hello!".to_string())).await; // Block and await until we can send the test message.
+    match actor.receive_message(&self, Channel::Test).await.m_type { // Match on a message type
+        Ping(s) => println!("We got pinged! {}", s), // Print if we got pinged
+        _ => {}, // Ignore other states
+    }
+}
+```
+
 ### Latency