An agent-oriented programming language for JADE multi-agent systems

In this dissertation, a novel approach to program JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment Framework) agents and Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) is proposed. JADE is a well-known agent platform which provides support to consolidated agent technologies, an agent-oriented distributed architecture, and several tools, both textual and graphical, for the creation of agents and MASs. The work presented in this dissertation originates from the need to assist programmers by means of tools that reduce the complexity and speed up the implementation of JADE MASs. The need for a simpler and more intuitive way to program JADE MASs in all their parts, from agents and behaviours to ontologies and interaction protocols, has led to the construction of a high level Domain-Specific Language (DSL), explicitly tailored for JADE agent and MASs. The proposed agent-oriented DSL is called JADEL, which stands for JADE Language. The language is designed to support the effective implementation of JADE MASs in the scope of model-driven development. JADEL provides a simple and clean syntax to describe agents and message passing among agents, behaviours and sub-behaviours, and JADE ontologies with their propositions, concepts, and predicates. Moreover, it allows integrating JADE-native agents, behaviours, and ontologies within JADEL code, which is translated into Java code. One of the main results of the proposed approach is that it permits to clearly put agent-oriented programming methodologies above the object-oriented programming paradigm of JADE programs, decoupling the agent meta-model from the Java meta-model.