Scala Reactive Programming

Differences between ActorRef and ActorPath

• ActorRef is different for two different Actors; no two Actors can have the same ActorRef.
• ActorPath may be the same or different for two different Actors. We can create two different Actors having the same ActorPath. However, we cannot create them at a time. When Actor one dies or shuts down, we can create Actor two with the same ActorPath. However, Actor two has a different ActorRef.

An ActorPath is used to look up an Actor in ActorSystem.

Two actor references are compared equal when they have the same path and point to the same actor incarnation.

Let's explore these differences with a simple example:

import akka.actor.{Actor, ActorPath, ActorRef, ActorSystem, PoisonPill, Props} case object Shutdown ...