Constructing Intelligent Agents Using Java: Professional Developer's Guide, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Joseph P. Bigus (Author), Jennifer Bigus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047139601X | ISBN-13: 978-0471396017 | Publication Date: March 13, 2001 | Edition: 2

A state-of-the-art guide on how to build intelligent Web-based applications using Java
Joseph and Jennifer Bigus update and significantly expand their book on building intelligent Web-based applications using Java. Geared to network programmers or Web developers who have previously programmed agents in Smalltalk or C++, this practical book explains in detail how to construct agents capable of learning and competing, including both design principles and actual code for personal agents, network or Web agents, multi-agent systems and commercial agents. New and revised coverage includes agent tools, agent uses for Web applications (including personalization, cross-selling, and e-commerce), and additional AI technologies such as fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

An essential guide to intelligent agent technologies-from straightforward Java implementations and practical agent applications to artificial intelligence algorithms

Constructing Intelligent Agents Using Java, Second Edition

Professional Developer's Guide

The Bigus team overhauls their bestselling guide to reflect changes in the Java platform and share the latest ideas in applied AI, software agents, and multiagent systems. The new edition continues to provide a comprehensive tutorial on the basic AI programming techniques and shows you how to design and develop practical intelligent agent applications in Java. You'll learn how to build agents that filter information from the Web, automate tasks, monitor dynamic Web content such as airfare information, and negotiate transactions in electronic marketplaces. You'll also construct a flexible agent platform where multiple agents can reside and interact on your PC.

Explore how this exciting new edition:
* Updates all code to support Java 2 and the Swing GUI
* Adds genetic algorithms and fuzzy rule system implementations
* Updates and expands the treatment of agents and multiagent systems
* Enhances the CIAgent framework with built-in timer and asynchronous event processing capabilities and use of the JavaBean component model
* Includes UML diagrams for the CIAgent classes and object interactions
* Provides a flexible agent platform where you can plug in your own agents
* Expands end-of-chapter exercises, Web resources, and bibliography

The CD-ROM contains:
* The complete Java code with JavaDocs for the examples in the book
* IBM Agent Building and Learning Environment (ABLE)
* Sun Microsystems' Java Run-Time Environment (JRE) 1.3

About the Author

JOSEPH P. BIGUS, PhD, is a senior technical staff member and research project leader at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Dr. Bigus has led the development of neural network, data mining, and agent technologies at IBM.
JENNIFER BIGUS is the principal consultant at Bigus Technologies Inc., where she designs and develops Java and e-business applications. Jennifer played a key role in bringing Java and enterprise Java applications to the IBM AS/400 server.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (March 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047139601X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471396017
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too light for me., March 23, 2002

By 

G. S. Cole "[e-mail]" (Anderson, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Constructing Intelligent Agents Using Java: Professional Developer's Guide, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

From the beginning of chapter 1 to the end of the index, this book is 408 pages. The authors do not begin to discuss agents until chapter six (page 201). So ~half of this book is merely introductory material. It's impossible to give more than a token survey to search, KR, back/forward chaining, fuzzy systems and neural networks in the allocated 200 pages. I feel this was a wasted effort best left to other books (like Russell and Norvig).

In contrast to the 200 page intro to AI, there is no primer on Java contained within this book. I feel this is OK since there are also many excellent books on Java. I only mention this to be complete in my review.

The real meat of this book is only ~165 pages (chapter 6 through 10). The agent examples are light, but adequate and I feel the concepts come across. Overall, I'm not sure I got my money's worth. I would have liked more discussion of various frameworks and maybe some examples of these. Implementations are lumped together in a hurried review in the last chapter.

If you already have some exposure to AI, you might consider a more advanced book. If you have never thought about AI, this book might serve as an introduction, but it is certainly not a comprehensive review.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book to get into agents, May 30, 2001

By 

Scott Gerard (Rochester, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Constructing Intelligent Agents Using Java: Professional Developer's Guide, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book -- particularly the humorous comments throughout that lightened up things. The example applications in almost every chapter were a good test bed to play around with and explore the concepts. I would not have understood things nearly as well without them. As the authors state, they don't teach you everything you need to know about the AI pieces, but with some digging on my own, I THINK I understand the basics enough to make progress. The UML package diagrams are worthless, and I wish the space had been used for something else -- maybe more background info or a summary of the agents in the chapter. But that is a minor complaint. I really liked the book and I'm anxious to apply some of the AI and agent techniques in my upcoming projects.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to intelligent agents, May 18, 2001

By 

lmui (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Constructing Intelligent Agents Using Java: Professional Developer's Guide, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading the book. It is a fair introduction to intelligent agents. The main concern I have is the (too) brief discussion of the underlying concepts. I would be surprised if anyone with no idea of these techniques can actually pick up much beyond the superficial. Since this is an introduction, this is less of a fault. But, this should not be a "text", as claimed by the authors; it can at best be served as a supplement to an existing text in AI or machine learning (e.g., Bishop 1995; Winston 1991; Russell and Novig, 1995; Mitchell, 1997, etc.)

Regarding the code provided: they are cleanly written except not well designed. (e.g., field variables are package visible and are used as obj.field throughout the code -- bad OO practice). If what one needs is to "pull" code into existing applications, think twice.