This unique new reference offers you the most thorough and comprehensive explanation of the methods, tools, standards and techniques used to develop software using the agent-oriented approach. Meeting a long unmet need to support the agent-software development community with practical guidance in this cutting-edge area, this authoritative resource helps you to: understand the issues in developing agent-based software, select tools and techniques that aid in the development of agent systems, and become familiar with important methodologies that can be used to build different types of agent systems. A thorough and practical introduction to agent-oriented software engineering, the book covers four major areas: the basic concepts of agents that motivate agent technology, available technological support for deployment of agent systems, industry-relevant initiatives, and agent methodologies for agent system development. Addressing issues of direct relevance to specific development and task objectives, as well as to industry-wide initiatives, the work is essential for those wanting to understand more about the commercial realities of agent-based computing.
Introduction to Agents - Open and Dynamic Computing Environments. Object Technologies. Basic Notions of Agents. Agent Properties. History of Agents. Terminology and Conventions. ; Agent Architectures - Reactive Architectures: The Subsumption Architecture. Deliberative Architectures. BDI Architectures: PRS and dMARS. Hybrid Architectures: InterRAP and Touring Mchines. The Architectural Landscape. ; Agent Methodologies - Agent-Oriented Approach: Gaia. SODA. Knowledge-Based Approaches: CoMoMAS. MAS-CommonKADS. Object-Based Approaches: Kinny, Georgeff, Rao. MaSE. AUML.; Agent Toolkits - ZEUS. IMPACT. RETSINA. JADE-LEAP. Madkit. JAF. CoABS.; Agent Standards - FIPA. Abstract Architecture. Message Transport. FIPA ACL. FIPA Implementations. DAML. OMG.; Related Technologies - J2EE. NET. JXTA. JINI. Web Services. SOAP. UDDI. WSDL.
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Ronald Ashri
Ronald Ashri is a research fellow at the University of Southampton where he is investigating infrastructure support for agent-based systems and security policies. Previously he worked with BTexact Labs, examining mobile agent technologies. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Warwick University, is completing his Ph.D. at Southampton University, and has published in the area of agent infrastructure.
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Mark D'Inverno
Mark d'Inverno is a professor at the University of Westminster and director of its Center for Agent Technology. He holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from University College London, University of London, an M.Sc. in Computation from the Programming Research Group, Oxford University, an M.A. in Mathematics from St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, and has published extensively.
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Michael Luck
Michael Luck is a professor at the University of Southampton and a director of AgentLink, the European Commission's Network of Excellence for Agent-Based Computing. Professor Luck is also the series editor of the Artech House Agent-Oriented Systems Series. He holds both a Ph.D. and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from University College London, University of London, and has published extensively.