Agent Technology For E-Commerce [Paperback]

Maria Fasli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0470030305 | ISBN-13: 978-0470030301 | Edition: 1

Agents are computational systems that are capable of autonomous, reactive and proactive behaviour, and are also able to interact with each other. The application of agents in e-Commerce is one of the fastest-growing and most exciting areas of computer science. This emerging technology is enabling individuals and businesses to take advantage of the new and powerful medium of the World Wide Web.

Agent Technology for e-Commerce introduces the main theory behind and the applications of agent technology in e-Commerce in a way that is accessible to students with a basic background in computer science. Bringing together economics, game theory and multi-agent systems in a clear and accessible way, this book offers an introduction to agent technology and architectures, as well as providing more in-depth coverage of subjects such as negotiation, auctions, bargaining, voting protocols and coalition formation. Mobile agents and issues of trust and security are also addressed.

Containing exercises and topics for discussion, this book is ideal for classroom use or self-study, and will be of considerable interest to computing and IT professionals who wish explore the fast-moving discipline of agent technology for e-Commerce.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Agents are computational systems that are capable of autonomous, reactive and proactive behaviour, and are also able to interact with each other. The application of agents in e-Commerce is one of the fastest-growing and most exciting areas of computer science. This emerging technology is enabling individuals and businesses to take advantage of the new and powerful medium of the World Wide Web.

Agent Technology for e-Commerce introduces the main theory behind and the applications of agent technology in e-Commerce in a way that is accessible to students with a basic background in computer science. Bringing together economics, game theory and multi-agent systems in a clear and accessible way, this book offers an introduction to agent technology and architectures, as well as providing more in-depth coverage of subjects such as negotiation, auctions, bargaining, voting protocols and coalition formation. Mobile agents and issues of trust and security are also addressed.

Containing exercises and topics for discussion, this book is ideal for classroom use or self-study, and will be of considerable interest to computing and IT professionals who wish explore the fast-moving discipline of agent technology for e-Commerce.

About the Author

Maria Fasli has taught a course on Agent Technology in E-commerce since 2000 as part of the MSc. in E-commerce Technology degree offered at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Essex. At the time of curriculum design, this was the first such specialized course designed in the UK. This course is now being offered as an option to other degree schemes in the Computer Science Department including the Doctoral program of the Centre of Computational Finance and Economic Agents (CCFEA).

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470030305
• ISBN-13: 978-0470030301
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,848,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars complements XML-based Web Services, June 4, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Agent Technology For E-Commerce (Paperback)

Agents might be the complement to the much touted Web Services. The latter give a means of composing complex services out of simpler ones, where a service can span several independent machines or addresses on a computer network. Well if you take the discussion in this book, it does fit neatly into the ecosystem where you have all these Web Services being made available.

Because the structured XML nature of the service messages lends itself to programmatic analysis by agents, especially if they have some proactive ability or are autonomous. Here, there is still a need for an underlying ontology or rich descriptive language for what the XML fields mean. Web Service researchers are actively working on this problem.

The book lets you see how certain trends might or will converge in the near future.