Journal papers on Agents

Logic-Based Specification Languages for Intelligent Software Agents

M. Martelli, V. Mascardi and L. Sterling

Accepted for publication by the Theory and Practice of Logic Programming Journal

Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) is the research field aiming at finding abstractions, languages, methodologies and toolkits for modeling, verifying, validating and prototyping complex applications conceptualized as Multi-Agent Systems (MASs). A very lively research area studies how formal methods can be used for AOSE; the ARPEGGIO open framework belongs to this area and aims at developing an open framework where logic-based formal specification languages and logic-based executable languages can be integrated to provide the means for specifying and prototyping a MAS choosing the most suitable language for each feature to model and implement. This paper presents a detailed survey of six logic-based executable agent specification languages that have been chosen for their possibility to be integrated in the ARPEGGIO framework: ConGolog, Agent-0, the IMPACT agent programming language, DyLog, Cuncurrent Metatem and Ehhf. For each executable language, the logic foundations are described and an example of use is shown. A comparison of the six languages and a survey of similar approaches complete the paper, together with considerations on the advantages of using logic-based languages in MAS modeling and prototyping.

The compressed postscript version of this paper is available through anonymous ftp at ftp.disi.unige.it, in /pub/person/MascardiV/Papers/TPLP03.ps.gz

CaseLP: a Prototyping Environment for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems

M. Martelli, V. Mascardi, F. Zini and R. Degl'Innocenti

Under second review process by the Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Journal

This paper describes CaseLP, an environment for the rapid prototyping of Multi-Agent Systems (MASs). CaseLP provides the developer with heterogeneous languages for the specification, design and implementation of the MAS components and their interactions, and an engineering methodology for the realization of the prototype following a sequence of clear steps. CaseLP agents are characterized by their architecture, the roles they play in the MAS, the ontologies they understand, their internal program, and their state. CaseLP offers high-level languages for modeling all these aspects, as well as semi-automatic compilers for implementing executable code starting from the heterogeneous specifications of the agents' components and tools for running and debugging the resulting prototype. The high-level specification languages range from rule-based (Ehhf, AgentRules) to graphical (an agent-oriented extension of UML) to object-oriented (Hemasl). One specification language, Ehhf, is executable, allowing the early verification and testing of the specification. The prototype implementation language is based on Prolog, and a graphical user interface is provided to help the MAS developer to iteratively test, debug, and refine design and implementation choices. CaseLP has been proven useful for engineering MAS prototypes in application domains ranging from vehicle monitoring to remote video-encoding of mail pieces, from distributed health-care management to decision support systems. Many of these applications were developed for industrial partners. The paper also discusses in details some methodologies and frameworks for MAS development and compares them with CaseLP.

The compressed postscript version of this paper is available through anonymous ftp at ftp.disi.unige.it, in /pub/person/MascardiV/Papers/AAMASJ03.ps.gz

Comparing Environments for Developing Software Agents

T. Eiter and V. Mascardi

AI Communications 15(4), pages 169-197, 2002

In the last years, dozens of environments for modeling, testing and finally implementing multi-agent systems have been developed. Unfortunately, no standard criteria for understanding what kind of application profile a particular development environment is good for have been individuated yet, and the question "How should I choose an existing environment which best suits the features and requirements of my application?" is still difficult to answer. This paper addresses this question, and aims at helping the multi-agent system developer to solve this problem. It provides a set of criteria for evaluating development environments, and then applies these criteria to five selected tools and multi-agent systems prototypes. Furthermore, some application-driven guidelines are described to help identifying the features of a suitable environment for developing an implementation of the given application. The features we identify can be used to find the right development framework among the frameworks we evaluate for doing the right application.

The compressed postscript version of this paper is available through anonymous ftp at ftp.disi.unige.it, in /pub/person/MascardiV/Papers/AIComms02.ps.gz

@article{AIComms02,
author = {T. Eiter and V. Mascardi},
title = {{Comparing Environments for Developing Software Agents}},
journal = {AI Communications},
volume = {15},
number = {4},
pages = {169--197},
year = {2002}}