Since its conception, software engineering has been proposing various techniques and technologies addressing the problem of maximizing the reusability of software. The leading edge of such a research is component-based software engineering. This paper reviews agents and multiagent systems from the point of view of reusability and it provides a formalization of reusability that exploits some very basic agent-oriented concepts. In particular, we move from the lesson learned in component-based software engineering and we define a topmost level of reusability in terms of two long-debated concepts: semantic composability and semantic extensibility. Then, we formally define such concepts through goal delegation, and finally we discuss how a concrete, yet simple, agent model can approximate them.
Formalizing the Reusability of Software Agents / Bergenti, Federico. - STAMPA. - 3071:(2003), pp. 246-257. (Intervento presentato al convegno International Workshop on Engineering Societies in the Agents World) [10.1007/978-3-540-25946-6_16].
Formalizing the Reusability of Software Agents
BERGENTI, Federico
2003-01-01
Abstract
Since its conception, software engineering has been proposing various techniques and technologies addressing the problem of maximizing the reusability of software. The leading edge of such a research is component-based software engineering. This paper reviews agents and multiagent systems from the point of view of reusability and it provides a formalization of reusability that exploits some very basic agent-oriented concepts. In particular, we move from the lesson learned in component-based software engineering and we define a topmost level of reusability in terms of two long-debated concepts: semantic composability and semantic extensibility. Then, we formally define such concepts through goal delegation, and finally we discuss how a concrete, yet simple, agent model can approximate them.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.