Architecture-Based Design of Multi-Agent Systems
Multi-agent systems are claimed to be especially suited to the development of software systems that are decentralized, can deal flexibly with dynamic conditions, and are open to system components that come and go. This is why they are used in domains such
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Danny Weyns
Architecture-Based Design of Multi-Agent Systems Foreword by Len Bass
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Danny Weyns Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Dept. Computer Science Celesijnenlaan 200a 3001 Leuven Belgium [email protected]
ISBN 978-3-642-01063-7 e-ISBN 978-3-642-01064-4 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-01064-4 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010920463 ACM Computing Classification (1998): I.2.11, D.2.11, C.3, J.7 c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: KuenkelLopka GmbH, Heidelberg Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
To Tessa, Eva, and Marina
Foreword
One of the most important things an architect can do is reflection. That is, examine systems, organizations, people and ask “What alternatives were considered and why was that particular decision made?” Thinking about the response gives an architect insight into the motivations and decision processes that others have used and this, in turn, should help the architect make better decisions in the future. A pre-requisite for doing this type of reflection is that the decisions and alternatives are made explicit. One venue that gives an architect an opportunity to do this type of reflection is during an architectural evaluation. Another venue is from a book such as this. This book lays out the design process used in building a collection of multi-agent systems. In addition to providing a case study of a design process and the rationale for the design decisions, the topic of the book also is of great interest. Systems of the future will increasingly have the characteristics of the autonomous systems described here: they are simultaneously becoming more interconnected and more autonomous. Think of your smart phone that is mostly connected but can operate many functions while it is disconnected. These systems of the future will also increasingly operate without central control. Again, the telephone system and how cellular communication is managed provides a good example of this phenomenon. Problems of connectivity raise issues of a node discovering that it is disconnected, other nodes discovering that a particular nod
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