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Dimensions in programming multi-agent systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2019

Olivier Boissier ,
Rafael H. Bordini ,
Jomi F. Hübner  and
Alessandro Ricci
Olivier Boissier
Affiliation:
University of Lyon, IMT Mines, Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Laboratoire Hubert Curien UMR 5516, France e-mail: olivier.boissier@emse.fr
Rafael H. Bordini
Affiliation:
School of Technology, PUCRS, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil e-mail: rafael.bordini@pucrs.br
Jomi F. Hübner
Affiliation:
Department of Automation and Systems Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil e-mail: jomi.hubner@ufsc.br
Alessandro Ricci
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, 47521 Cesena (FC), Italy e-mail: a.ricci@unibo.it
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Abstract

Research on Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) has led to the development of several models, languages, and technologies for programming not only agents, but also their interaction, the application environment where they are situated, as well as the organization in which they participate. Research on those topics moved from agent-oriented programming towards multi-agent-oriented programming (MAOP). A MAS program is then designed and developed using a structured set of concepts and associated first-class design and programming abstractions that go beyond the concepts normally associated with agents. They include those related to environment, interaction, and organization. JaCaMo is a platform for MAOP built on top of three seamlessly integrated dimensions (i.e. structured sets of concepts and associated execution platforms): for programming belief desire intention (BDI) agents, their artefact-based environments, and their normative organizations. The key purpose of our work on JaCaMo is to support programmers in exploring the synergy between these dimensions, providing a comprehensive programming model, as well as a corresponding platform for developing and running MAS. This paper provides a practical overview of MAOP using JaCaMo. We show how emphasizing one particular dimension leads to different solutions to the same problem, and discuss the issues of each of those solutions.

Information

Type
Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 34 , 2019 , e2
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2019 

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