AgentOriented Software Engineering

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Agent-Oriented Software Engineering

• Muhammed Al-Muhammed
• Brigham Young University

Supported in part by NSF
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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Software Engineering

• The establishment and use of sound engineering
  principles (methods) in order to obtain
  economically software that is reliable and works
  on real machines (Bauer, F. L. Software
  Engineering. Information Processing 71., 1972)

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Software Engineering

• Some principles GJM91
• Modularity
• Abstraction
• Process of developing software
• Requirement analysis, design, testing,
• Software Architecture Gar00
• Past trends
• Current and future trends

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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Agents

• Definition FG96
• An agent is a system situated within and part
  of environment that senses that environment and
  acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own
  agenda and so as to effect what it senses in the
  future.
• Agent properties JSW98, Bra97
• Autonomy?has control over its behavior
• Re-activity?continuously observes and react to
  changes in its environment in timely fashion
• Pro-activity?goal oriented
• Sociality?communicate in a high-level way

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Agents

• Contributors to agent research JSW98
• Artificial intelligence
• Object systems
• Human-computer interface design
• Multi-agent systems
• Agent communication languages
• KQML FLM97 FIPA

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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Jen00

• The case for agent orientation to software
  engineering
• Agent-oriented decomposition is an effective way
  of partitioning a problem space
• Agent mindset (agent, interactions, and
  organizational relationships) are a natural means
  for modeling complex systems

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Agent-Oriented Software EngineeringJen00

• Problems of agent-based approaches to software
  engineering
• Unpredictable patterns and outcomes of the
  interactions
• Difficult (or impossible) to predict the behavior
  of the overall system based on its constituent
  components

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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Agent Modeling Tools

• UML unsuitable for agent modeling
• Two major extensions to UML
• AUML extends UML specifically it extends UML
  interaction diagrams to support agent protocols
  PO04
• AML extends UML and uses concepts from AUML,
  OWL, MESSAGE, FIPA-S CTCG04

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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Methodologies

• Methodologies based on agent theory
• Extensions of object-oriented methodologies
• Methodologies based on knowledge engineering
• Hybrid methodologies

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Methodologies Based on Agent Theory

• Provides more support for agent aspects than
  other approaches
• Lacks maturity and support outside of research
  labs

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Methodologies Based on Agent Theory

• Exiting methodologies
• GAIA ZJW03
• Conceptualizes a multi-agent system as a society
• Covers only analysis and design phase
• Others
• ROADMAP JPS02,
• Tropos GMP02, and
• SODA Omi01

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Extensions of Object-Oriented Methodologies

• Rationale
• Similarities between agents and objects
• Both paradigms use message passing for
  communication
• Agents can be thought of as active objects
• Object techniques well understood by engineers
• Using these techniques accelerates agent use in
  industry

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Extensions of Object-Oriented Methodologies

• But these methodologies do not address many agent
  aspects
• Mental states
• Social dimensions

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Extensions of Object-Oriented Methodologies

• Existing methodologies
• MaSE WD01
• Leads engineers from specification to
  implementation
• Covers many phases capturing goals, applying use
  cases,
• Others
• PASSI CP02
• Prometheus PW02

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Methodologies Based on Knowledge Engineering

• Rationale
• Agent knowledge can be considered as a knowledge
  acquisition process
• Acquired experience in knowledge engineering can
  help expedite introducing agent technology to
  industry
• Do not address many agent aspects
• Social aspects
• Reactive and proactive behaviors

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Methodologies Based on Knowledge Engineering

• MAS-CommonKADS IMGV98
• Incorporates aspects from knowledge engineering
  and object technology
• Covers the following phases
• Conceptualization obtaining a preliminary
  description of the problem
• Analysis agent model, task model, expertise
  model
• Design design model

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Hybrid Methodologies

• General-purpose methodologies may be infeasible
• Each methodology has strengths and weaknesses
• Integrating strong features from different
  methodologies may produce a better methodology

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Hybrid Methodologies

• Two approaches
• Skeleton methodology (integrates two
  methodologies) JSW02
• The core of skeleton has six models from both
  methodologies
• Can model systems with low agency needs
• Optional models are available when more agency
  required
• Modular methodology JSMM03
• Promotes the use of more than methodology
• Depends on the notion of software engineering
  feature
• Add features from different methodology as needed

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Other Approaches

• A three level technique to build multi-agent
  systems HGR03
• Phases
• Three models role model, agent model, and object
  model
• Meta-model for each level along with a translator
  to next level
• A one-process model technique to build
  multi-agent systems KR02
• Simplifies obtaining requirements
• Relies on one modelprocess model

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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Reuse in Agent Software

• Researchers have identified many patterns
  Lin02,GL04 such as
• Interaction patterns
• Organizational Patterns
• Role patterns
• Each pattern is described by a schema
• A collection of aspects that fully capture a
  software pattern

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Outline

• Software Engineering
• Agents
• Agent-Oriented Software Engineering
• Agent Modeling Tools
• Methodologies
• Reuse in Agent Software
• Future Directions

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Future Directions

• Openness
• No good support for open systems
• More specialized methodologies are required
• Semantic web
• Engineering semantic web services
• Users (not software engineers) will design their
  applications
• Library of ready-to-use, high-level components
• Methodologies to guide users to configure
  components
• Generation of agents on-the-fly, as needed to
  perform services