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Paranet Actors

Paraflow has native support for implementing actors on the Paranet. Paraflow actors can:

  • Implement skills available on the Paranet
  • Delegate goals to other actors on the Paranet via skill requests
  • Observe the Paranet requests of other actors

The following sections describe the language support for the Paranet.

Skill Implementation​

Paraflow actors implement skills by declaring how a skill maps to a Paraflow goal along with the rules/takes that implement that goal. The skill declaration has the following syntax.

<skill-declaration> := "skill" <subject> "/" <action> <parameter-list> "is" <goal> <call-bindings> ";"

For example,

#--
Basic test skill

Args:
    name: user's name
--#

skill basic/test($name string) is !Test($name, t -> Now());

This is the concise form of the skill declaration. There is also an expanded form that support more complex behavior.

An optional docstring enclosed in #-- ... --# can be provided. The docstring is registered with the skill on the network and returned as the skill description when querying skills.

Skill Request​

Paranet actors can delegate goals to other actors by declaring how a goal maps to a skill. The delegate declaration has the following syntax.

<delegate-declaration> := "delegate" <goal-pattern> "is" <subject> "/" <action> <call-bindings> [ "return" <return-clause> ] ";"
<return-clause> := "{" <return-field> [ "," <return-field> ] "}"
<return-field> := <variable> | <field> ":" <variable>

For example,

delegate !DoRequest($name) is basic/handler($name) return { $answer };

This is the concise form of the delegate declaration. There is also an expanded form that support more complex behavior.

Observation​

Paraflow actors can observe other actors by declaring an observed skill maps to a Paraflow goal. The observation declaration has the following syntax.

<observation-declaration> := "observation" <subject> "/" <action> <parameter-list> "is" <goal> <call-bindings> ";"

For example,

observation basic/test($name string) is !Report($name);