Based on a suitably defined coordination model distinguishing between
objective (inter-agent) coordination and subjective (intra-agent)
coordination, this book addresses the engineering of multi-agent systems
and thus contributes to closing the gap between research and
applications in agent technology. After reviewing the state of the art,
the author introduces the general coordination model ECM and the
corresponding object-oriented coordination language STL++. The
practicability of ECM/STL++ is illustrated by the simulation of a
particular collective robotics application and the automation of an
e-commerce trading system.
Situated at the intersection of behavior-based artificial intelligence
and concurrent and distributed systems, this monograph is of relevance
to the agent R&D community approaching agent technology from the
distributed artificial intelligence point of view as well as for the
distributed systems community.