Software Agents [Paperback]

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0262522349 | ISBN-13: 978-0262522342

Future software will not merely respond to requests for information, but will anticipate the user's needs and actively seek ways to support the user. These systems will also manage cooperation among distributed programs. To describe the many roles of such software, researchers use the term agent.The essays in Software Agents, by leading researchers and developers of agent-based systems, address both the state-of-the-art of agent technology and its likely evolution in the near future. The introductory chapters in Part I present the views of proponents and a critic of software agents. The chapters in Part II describe how agents are used to enhance learning and provide intelligent assistance to users in situations where traditional direct manipulation interfaces alone are insufficient. The chapters of Part III discuss agent-to-agent communication and the use of agents to provide intelligent interoperability in distributed systems and the Internet.Contributors : José-Luis Ambite, Ball, P. Benoit, Guy A. Boy, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Philip Cohen, Allen Cypher, S. Dutfield, Thomas Erickson, Tim Finin, Michael R. Genesereth, Kenneth R. Grant, Craig A. Knoblock, Kurlander, Yannis Labrou, Kum-Yew Lai, Brenda Laurel, Hector J. Levesque, Ling, Pattie Maes, Thomas W. Malone, James Mayfield, Miller, Nicholas Negroponte, Donald A. Norman, Pugh, Doug Riecken, Ben Shneiderman, Yoav Shoham, Skelly, David C. Smith, Jim Spohrer, Stankosky, Thiel, Van Dantzich, Wax, James E. White, J. Woolley.Distributed for AAAI Press.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Software Agents isn't packed with sample code or programming tips. Instead, it contains a thought-provoking series of essays by industry luminaries on a hot topic at the horizon of programming: building "intelligent" agents. The book's various authors explore different aspects of agents: How will they interact with users? How will they communicate with each other? What are the technical requirements of agents? What kinds of agents have been implemented to date, and what does the future hold? Can agents be built to allow programming of their behavior without requiring any explicit programming? Plentiful food for thought.

About the Author

Jeffrey Bradshaw leads the agent technology efforts for The Boeing Company and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (April 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262522349
• ISBN-13: 978-0262522342
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Theory of Computing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Collection, January 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Thessaloniki, Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Software Agents (Paperback)

This a really excellent collection of papers. Really well organized and includes writings from influential researchers in the field. It is the right book to start reading about agents, well fitted to serve as a basic reference

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Accessible Yet Dated Survey Material, February 23, 2005

By 

Erkut Eronat (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Agents (Paperback)

This book is a collection of papers that survey the concept of intelligent software agents a.k.a "software robots." It is very accessible yet has the flavor of academic rigor in terms of citations etc. As of 2005, this material is decidedly dated; a whole era of dot-com boom and bust has happened in the interim. Most of the digerati academicians that have advocated, if not hyped, these technologies now have more modest consulting and academic lives now. Perhaps it is for the better for eventual real progress. Anybody seriously interested in this field must read this book to get grounded. A newer state-of-the-art survey book of its caliber is an unmet need at the moment. Would have been a 5 star review in 1999 but time corrodes.

4.0 out of 5 stars A good collection of papers on this topic., September 2, 2005

By 

Magid Nikraz (Perth) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Agents (Paperback)

This book is a good collection of papers on software agents. I personally like the view of agents assumed in the book by Genesereth and the Introductory chapter.