Building multiplayer game using Reactive Streams

This talk introduces streams and reactive streams. You will learn how stream-based programming can be used to implement web frontend and multiplayer backend of the classic game: Snake.

Building dynamic applications using imperative approach tends to create lots of unmaintainable code. Stream-based programming tries to solve this problem by introducing fully declarative way of defining application logic. While using streams, you will focus on what needs to be done, not how and when.

The talk is divided into 3 parts. In the first part you will learn how to create a frontend of the Snake web game using streams as building blocks. Then, we will move to the server side and use Scala and Akka Stream library to create backend service that will allow the game to be played by multiple players. In the third part, we will discuss reactive streams and how they make asynchronous communication safe.

Transcript

1. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Building Multiplayer Game using Streams and Reactive Streams Michał Płachta
2. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Streams? • way of defining application logic • focused on data transformations • unbounded collections • have hardcoded time • declarative
3. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek What you will learn? • how frontend web app written in streams look like • how backend app written using streams look like • how do Reactive Streams keep our streams safe?
4. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Meet Snake & Fruit Snake Fruit
5. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Our First Stream: “Ticks” stream
6. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Directions” stream
7. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Snake’s Head Positions” stream
8. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Stream operators: map & scan stream.map(f) • transforms values from stream using function f • returns a new stream with transformed values stream.scan(init, f) • accumulates values from stream using function f ◦ f(acc,val) => new_acc • returns a new stream that outputs accumulator on each new value
9. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Once again: the code
10. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Displaying values from the stream
11. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Streams are reusable
12. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Streams & Operators are lazy No elements = I don’t do anything
13. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Key presses” stream
14. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Left Key Presses” stream
15. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Right Key Presses” stream
16. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Stream operators: filter stream.filter(p) • checks each value from stream against the predicate passed as p • returns a new stream that outputs only values that satisfy condition p Already used: • map(f) • scan(init, f(acc, val))
17. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Left Rotations” stream
18. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Right Rotations” stream
19. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Actions” stream
20. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Stream operators: merge stream.merge(stream2) • stream is merged with stream2 • returns a new stream that outputs values from both stream and stream2 as they appear Already used: • map(f) • scan(init, f(acc, val)) • filter(p)
21. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Recap: Current “Directions” stream
22. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Directions” stream based on user input
23. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Directions” stream: Better, but no timing! vs
24. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Stream operators: sampledBy stream.sampledBy(stream2) • last value from stream is taken when any value appears in stream2 • returns a new stream that outputs values from stream sampled by values from stream2 Already used: • map(f) • scan(init, f(acc, val)) • filter(p) • merge(stream2)
25. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Directions” stream: user input & timing
26. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Snake Head Positions”: no change needed
27. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek User moves the snake: the code
28. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Current implementation 10 streams • “ticks” • “key presses” • “left key presses” • “right key presses” • “left rotations” • “right rotations” • “actions” • “direction changes” • “directions” • “snake head positions” + map, scan, filter, merge & sampledBy
29. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Stream operators: slidingWindow stream.slidingWindow(n) • aggregate last n values • returns a new stream that outputs arrays of last n values from the stream • can be implemented using scan Already used: • map(f) • scan(init, f(acc, val)) • filter(p) • merge(stream2) • sampledBy(stream2)
30. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Snakes” stream
31. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Quiz: Eating a fruit? 6 operators • map(f) • scan(init, f(acc, val)) • filter(p) • merge(stream2) • sampledBy(stream2) • slidingWindow(n) WHICH STREAMS AND OPERATORS SHOULD WE REUSE TO IMPLEMENT “EATING A FRUIT” FUNCTIONALITY? 11 streams • “ticks” • “key presses” • “left key presses” • “right key presses” • “left rotations” • “right rotations” • “actions” • “direction changes” • “directions” • “snake head positions” • “snakes”
32. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Fruit eaten events” stream
33. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Frontend in action!
34. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Architecture: 11 streams, 2 ins & 2 outs
35. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Snake’s going multiplayer
36. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Snake Server App Requirements • client must send snake positions to the server each time it changes • server must generate fruits • server must keep scores • server must broadcast: ◦ positions of all snakes to other players ◦ positions of fruits to all players ◦ current scoreboard to all players
37. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Let’s design Server App Flow! one player flow
38. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek WebSocket connected to the Flow
39. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek WebSocket as a stream: Server App
40. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Snake App Flow (one player)
41. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Let’s implement Server Flow for one player
42. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Moved to server: “Fruit eaten events” stream
43. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Fruits” stream
44. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Fruits” stream using Akka Stream
45. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Score updates” stream
46. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Scores” stream
47. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek “Scores” stream using Akka Stream
48. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Game Logic Server Flow
49. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Game Logic Flow using Akka Stream
50. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Merging Player Flows outputs
51. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Server app flow using Akka Stream
52. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Backend in action!
53. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek What if there are thousands of players?
54. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Crossing Async Boundary Push Model • not safe when Subscriber slower • perfect when Subscriber faster Pull Model • too slow when Subscriber faster • perfect when Subscriber slower
55. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Reactive Streams Streams with supply & demand • start in Pull Mode • Consumer asks for elements (= demand) • Publisher goes into Push Mode • supplies elements until demand is satisfied
56. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Reactive Streams Lack of demand = Backpressure
57. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Example of Reactive Streams
58. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Reactive Streams
59. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Reactive Streams API public interface Publisher<T> { public void subscribe(Subscriber<? super T> s); } public interface Subscriber<T> { public void onSubscribe(Subscription s); public void onNext(T t); public void onError(Throwable t); public void onComplete(); } public interface Subscription { public void request(long n); public void cancel(); } public interface Processor<T, R> extends Subscriber<T>, Publisher<R> {}
60. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Simple API, hard implementation... https://github.com/reactive-streams/reactive-streams-jvm/blob/v1.0.0/README.md#specification
61. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Reactive Streams API implementations • Project Reactor • Ratpack • Vert.x • Slick • Akka Stream • JDK 9 • Integrations: ◦ Kafka, ◦ Mongo, ◦ Cassandra
62. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Akka Stream model Publisher => Source Processor => Flow Subscriber => Sink Our Snake implementation uses Reactive Streams!
63. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek • NO ◦ frontend is pushing every 100ms • Possible solutions: ◦ Reactive Streams web frameworks? ◦ conflate/expand? ◦ buffer between frontend & backend? Is Snake Multiplayer safe?
64. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Links github.com/miciek/web-snake-react-bacon Client Side Code github.com/miciek/snake-multiplayer-akka-streams Server Side Code rxmarbles.com/ Play with streams and operators! doc.akka.io/docs/akka-stream-and-http-experimental/2.0.3/ Akka Stream baconjs.github.io/ BaconJS - streams in JavaScript
65. KSUG / Kraków / 29.02.2016 @miciek Building Multiplayer Game using Streams and Reactive Streams Michał Płachta www.michalplachta.com THANK YOU!