Explain 'Fail-Fast' vs 'Fail-Safe'.
Updated Apr 28, 2026
Short answer
Fail-fast stops execution immediately upon error; reactive systems often use isolation to fail-fast in a sub-component without killing the system.
Deep explanation
Mid-level reactive architecture moves into distributed coordination. The Actor model is a classic implementation of the message-driven trait. Actors encapsulate state and behavior, and because they only communicate via messages, they can be easily scaled across a cluster (Location Transparency).
Real-world example
A microservice architecture where the 'Orders' service can crash without affecting the 'User Profile' service (Resilience via Bulkheading).
Common mistakes
- Sharing mutable objects between actors, which breaks the isolation principle.
Follow-up questions
- What is the difference between a Task and an Actor?