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Methodological foundations for agent-based systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2001

MICHAEL FISHER
Affiliation:
Department of Computing, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
JÖRG MÜLLER
Affiliation:
Agent Systems Group, Zuno, London, UK
MICHAEL SCHROEDER
Affiliation:
Institut für Rechnergestützte Wissensverarbeitung, Universitaät Hannover, Germany
GEOF STANIFORD
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University College Chester, UK
GERD WAGNER
Affiliation:
Institut für Informatik, Universität Leipzig, Germany

Abstract

In spite of the rapid spread of agent technology, there is, as yet, little evidence of an engineering approach to the development of agent-based systems. In particular, development methods for these systems are relatively rare. One of the key reasons for this is the inadequacy of standard software development approaches for these new, and fundamentally different, agent-based systems. Traditional software development methods often lack the flexibility to handle high-level concepts such as an agent's dynamic control of its own behaviour, its ability to represent cooperative interactions, and its mechanisms for representing internal change, assumptions, objectives, and the uncertainty inherent in its interactions with the real-world.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This report is the result of a panel discussion at the First UK Workshop on Foundations of Multi-Agent Systems (FoMAS'96). All members of the panel are the authors, listed alphabetically, with the exception of Aaron Sloman and Brian Logan from the University of Birmingham, who were unable to integrate their views (which differ from those expressed here) into this document due to time constraints.