In the last years, research on agent-oriented (AO) methodologies and multi-agent system (MAS) infrastructures has developed along two opposite paths: while AO methodologies have essentially undergone a top-down evolution pushed by contributions from heterogeneous fields like human sciences, MAS infrastructures have mostly followed a bottom-up path growing from existing and widespread (typically object-oriented) technologies. This dichotomy has produced a conceptual gap between the proposed AO methodologies and the agent infrastructures actually available, as well as a technical gap in the MAS engineering practice, where methodologies are often built ad hoc out of MAS infrastructures, languages and tools. This paper proposes a new method for filling the gap between methodologies and infrastructures based on the definition and study of the meta-models of both AO methodologies and MAS infrastructures. By allowing structural representation of abstractions to be captured along with their mutual relations, meta-models make it possible to map design-time abstractions from AO methodologies upon run-time abstractions from MAS technologies, thus promoting a more coherent and effective practice in MAS engineering. In order to validate our method, we take an AO methodology — SODA — and show how it can be mapped upon three different MAS infrastructures using meta-models as mapping guidelines.

Ambra Molesini, Enrico Denti, Andrea Omicini (2008). From AO methodologies to MAS infrastructures: The SODA case study. Heidelberg : Springer [10.1007/978-3-540-87654-0_17].

From AO methodologies to MAS infrastructures: The SODA case study

MOLESINI, AMBRA;DENTI, ENRICO;OMICINI, ANDREA
2008

Abstract

In the last years, research on agent-oriented (AO) methodologies and multi-agent system (MAS) infrastructures has developed along two opposite paths: while AO methodologies have essentially undergone a top-down evolution pushed by contributions from heterogeneous fields like human sciences, MAS infrastructures have mostly followed a bottom-up path growing from existing and widespread (typically object-oriented) technologies. This dichotomy has produced a conceptual gap between the proposed AO methodologies and the agent infrastructures actually available, as well as a technical gap in the MAS engineering practice, where methodologies are often built ad hoc out of MAS infrastructures, languages and tools. This paper proposes a new method for filling the gap between methodologies and infrastructures based on the definition and study of the meta-models of both AO methodologies and MAS infrastructures. By allowing structural representation of abstractions to be captured along with their mutual relations, meta-models make it possible to map design-time abstractions from AO methodologies upon run-time abstractions from MAS technologies, thus promoting a more coherent and effective practice in MAS engineering. In order to validate our method, we take an AO methodology — SODA — and show how it can be mapped upon three different MAS infrastructures using meta-models as mapping guidelines.
2008
Engineering Societies in the Agents World VIII
300
317
Ambra Molesini, Enrico Denti, Andrea Omicini (2008). From AO methodologies to MAS infrastructures: The SODA case study. Heidelberg : Springer [10.1007/978-3-540-87654-0_17].
Ambra Molesini; Enrico Denti; Andrea Omicini
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/62573
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