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Logic-based specification languages for intelligent software agents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2004

VIVIANA MASCARDI
Affiliation:
DISI, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 35, 16146, Genova, Italy (e-mail: mascardi@disi.unige.it)
MAURIZIO MARTELLI
Affiliation:
DISI, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 35, 16146, Genova, Italy (e-mail: martelli@disi.unige.it)
LEON STERLING
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia (e-mail: leon@cs.mu.oz.au)

Abstract

The research field of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) aims to find abstractions, languages, methodologies and toolkits for modeling, verifying, validating and prototyping complex applications conceptualized as Multiagent Systems (MASs). A very lively research sub-field studies how formal methods can be used for AOSE. This paper presents a detailed survey of six logic-based executable agent specification languages that have been chosen for their potential to be integrated in our ARPEGGIO project, an open framework for specifying and prototyping a MAS. The six languages are $\textsf{ConGolog}$, $\textsf{AGENT-0}$, the $\textsf{IMPACT}$ agent programming language, $\textsf{DyLOG}$, Concurrent $\textsf{METATEM}$ and ${\cal E}_{hhf}$. 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 of the advantages of using logic-based languages in MAS modeling and prototyping.

Type
Regular Papers
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Partially supported by the “Verifica di Sistemi Reattivi Basati su Vincoli (COVER)” project of the Programma di Ricerca Cofinanziato MIUR, Bando 2002, and by the “Discovery” project of the Australian Research Council number DP0209027.