Programming Reactive Systems

Instructors: Roland Kuhn

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7 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

31 reviews

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

5 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

7 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

31 reviews

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

5 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Understand how back-pressure controls flows of data
Transform and consume infinite and intermittent streams of data with Akka Stream
implement systems that can scale out according to a varying workload
Design systems resilient to failures

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Scala Programming

Details to know

Shareable certificate

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Taught in English

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There are 7 modules in this course

Reactive programming is a set of techniques for implementing scalable, resilient and responsive systems as per the Reactive Manifesto. Such systems are based on asynchronous message-passing, and their basic building-blocks are event handlers. This course teaches how to implement reactive systems in Scala and Akka by using high-level abstractions, such as actors, asynchronous computations, and reactive streams.

You will learn how to: - use, transform and sequence asynchronous computations using Future values - write concurrent reactive systems based on Actors and message passing, using untyped Akka and Akka Typed - design systems resilient to failures - implement systems that can scale out according to a varying workload - transform and consume infinite and intermittent streams of data with Akka Stream in a non-blocking way - understand how back-pressure controls flows of data

This module shows you how to get started with the course. After setting up your machine to work on and to submit assignments, it will provide you with a recap of the basics of the Scala language. Finally, you will encounter the first topic of the course, asynchronous programming with Futures.

What's included

5 videos9 readings3 programming assignments

5 videos Total 69 minutes

Introduction to Programming Reactive Systems 11 minutes
Lecture 1.2-Functions and Pattern Matching 20 minutes
Lecture 1.3-Collections 13 minutes
Lecture 1.4-Asynchronous Programming 11 minutes
Lecture 1.5-Futures 14 minutes

9 readings Total 85 minutes

Course structure 10 minutes
Working on Assignments 5 minutes
Tools Setup (Please read) 10 minutes
IntelliJ IDEA Tutorial 10 minutes
SBT tutorial and Submission of Assignments (Please read) 10 minutes
Learning Resources 10 minutes
Scala Style Guide 10 minutes
Scala Tutorial 10 minutes
Cheat Sheet 10 minutes

3 programming assignments Total 540 minutes

Example Assignment 180 minutes
Programming with Futures (audit track) 180 minutes
Programming with Futures (verified track) 180 minutes

This module presents the Actor model: after analyzing its advantages and strengths, you will learn the semantics and design principles of actor systems before learn how to concretely test actor-based programs

What's included

5 videos2 programming assignments

5 videos Total 111 minutes

Lecture 2.1-Introduction: why actors? 15 minutes
Lecture 2.2-The Actor Model 14 minutes
Lecture 2.3-Message Processing Semantics 27 minutes
Lecture 2.4-Designing Actor Systems 38 minutes
Lecture 2.5-Testing Actor Systems 17 minutes

2 programming assignments Total 360 minutes

Binary Trees (audit track) 180 minutes
Binary Trees (verified track) 180 minutes

This module further explores the Actor model by showing useful patterns used to create complex and resilient programs

What's included

3 videos2 programming assignments

Actors allow you to decouple a program in units that can be distributed on a single or on multiple machines. This module elaborates on the power and the consequences of distributed computation

What's included

6 videos

Now that you are familiar with the Actor model, this module shows how to leverage Scala's powerful type system to write programs with more confidence by using typed actor descriptions

What's included

6 videos2 programming assignments

6 videos Total 73 minutes

Lecture 5.1-Introduction to Protocols 11 minutes
Lecture 5.2-Protocols in Akka Typed 14 minutes
Lecture 5.3-Testing Akka Typed Behaviors 8 minutes
Lecture 5.4-Akka Typed Facilities 16 minutes
Lecture 5.5-Akka Typed Persistence 13 minutes
Lecture 5.6-Supervision revisited 10 minutes

2 programming assignments Total 360 minutes

Transactor (audit track) 180 minutes
Transactor (verified track) 180 minutes

This module introduces the concept of data streams and the basic semantics of stream processing before showing how the Akka framework can be used to tackle common challenges in this domain

What's included

4 videos2 programming assignments

This final module elaborates on more complex and powerful patterns in stream processing as well as how to the integrate the actor model to create custom nodes of data processing

What's included

4 videos2 programming assignments

4 videos Total 51 minutes

Lecture 7.1-Streaming Protocols & Stream Composition 10 minutes
Lecture 7.2-Stateful operations and materialized values 12 minutes
Lecture 7.3-Fan-in and Fan-out operations 11 minutes
Lecture 7.4-Integrating Streams with (Typed) Actors 18 minutes

2 programming assignments Total 360 minutes

Reactive followers (audit track) 180 minutes
Reactive followers (verified track) 180 minutes

Instructors

Instructor ratings

(19 ratings)

Roland Kuhn

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

2 Courses 4,099 learners

Konrad Malawski

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

2 Courses 4,099 learners

Martin Odersky

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

6 Courses 236,377 learners

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École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Reviewed on Aug 4, 2023

Great at teaching theory. I had to watch a bunch of RockTheJVM videos to learn how to actually program Akka, though.

Reviewed on Feb 5, 2025

Good course, quite difficult but rewarding. I think textual descriptions for some of the exercises could be improved a little bit(kvstore).

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Programming Reactive Systems

Programming Reactive Systems

What you'll learn

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Details to know

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

There are 7 modules in this course

Introduction, Recap and Asynchronous Programming

What's included

The Actor Model

What's included

Handling Failure and State

What's included

Distributed Computing

What's included

Typed Actors

What's included

Stream Processing

What's included

Advanced Stream Processing

What's included

Instructors

Offered by

Explore more from Software Development

Programming Reactive Systems (Scala 2 version)

Spring WebFlux: Build Scalable Reactive Web Apps

Reactive Patterns with RxJS and Angular Signals

Advanced Data Handling and Reactive Programming Concepts

Why people choose Coursera for their career

Felipe M.

Jennifer J.

Larry W.

Chaitanya A.

Learner reviews

Open new doors with Coursera Plus

Advance your career with an online degree

Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business

Frequently asked questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?

Is financial aid available?

More questions