Developing Intelligent Agents for Distributed Systems

This is a guide for software developers wanting to harness the power of agent software in client/server environments. An intelligent agent is a piece of software which searches for information, monitors conditions and performs particular actions. Often referred to as smart software, the agent continually "learns" about its environment and begins to repond accordingly. The book explains the programming of agents for improving user interfaces, increasing the performance of LANs and WANs, managing mail and even for assisting in the development of new software. In addition, the authors provide background on the technologies that make agents possible, such as AI, fuzzy logic and object technology. Common standards, such as COBRA and OLE, are discussed in the context of agents, along with the dark side of the technology, including "bots" and "rogue" agents which behave like viruses.

Now you can build smarter distributed systems in any domain using intelligent agents. This practical and comprehensive guide explains what intelligent agents (IAs) are, how systems of agents can collaborate to solve difficult problems, the kinds of commercially-available technologies that can be used to build them, and how they can make today's and tomorrow's information systems easier to manage and use. The authors examine virtually all aspects of intelligent agent technology, in a logical progression of topics, as follows: Section 1 defines IAs from several perspectives. Section 2 discusses natural and artificial intelligence, and speculates about building computers that mimic the nature of mind and brain. Section 3 discuess IA-enablers including: Object-orientation, artificial intelligence and expert systems (including the latest on Cyc), and soft computing technologies such as fuzzy logic, neural nets and evolutionary computation. Section 4 reviews key industry-standard infrastructures: COBRA, OpenDoc, OLE/Active X and DCE. Section 5 surveys several IA architectures, pointing out significant concepts and features. Section 6 discusses design issues, including: networking (client/server, peer-to-peer, agent mobility, Internet/WWW), OS requirements, security considerations, requirements analysis, domain modeling and much more. Section 7 discusses several languages and environments that are especially appropriate for agent development in distributed environments, including: Java, Smalltalk, Telescript, examples included. Section 8 presents numerous application domains where IAs are poised to make a big difference, including: financial, computer-aided design, medical, network management, information retrieval/management, electronic commerce and much more. Section 9 rounds out the coverage by taking you into the future. The authors speculate about IAs hastening shifts in human-computer and human-human relationships pointing out both positive and negative consequences that may occur. A summary of current research efforts is also included, with appropriate WWW URLs. Appendixes include references/bibliography, acronyms and an index.

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