Understanding Agent Systems [Hardcover]

Mark D'Inverno (Author), Michael Luck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2001 | ISBN-10: 3540419756 | ISBN-13: 978-3540419754 | Edition: 1

Presenting a formal approach to dealing with agents and agent systems, the Z specification language is used to establish an accessible and unified formal account of agent systems and inter-agent relationships. In particular, the framework provides precise and unambiguous meanings for common concepts and terms for agent systems, and allows for the description of alternative agent models and architectures, and serves as a foundation for subsequent development of increasingly refined agent concepts. The practicability of this approach is verified by applyingthe formal framework to three detailed case studies. The methodology presented takes a very significant step towards organizing and structuring the diverse and disparate landscape of agent-based systems by applying formal methods to develop a defining and encompassing agent framework. The book should appeal equally to researchers, students, and professionals in industry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews of the second edition: An excellent book that lays out a clear conceptual framework for studying and analysing agent-based systems.                                                 Nick Jennings Mark d'Inverno and Michael Luck have, over the last six or seven years, been at the forefront of European research in agent systems. This book poses some important foundational questions about agents and their interactions in multi-agent systems and answers them in a coherent and convincing way. It's an extremely valuable contribution to the field.                                                               Michael Georgeff It is undoubtedly a clear and most comprehensive attempt to describe agent-based systems in a unified manner.                                                        Simon Parsons "This book presents a formal approach to dealing with agents and agent systems. … The methodology presented takes a very significant step towards organising and structuring the diverse and disparate landscape of agent-based systems by applying formal methods to develop a defining and encompassing agent framework. The book will appeal equally to researchers, students, and professionals in industry." (PHINEWS, Vol. 7, 2005) "The book consists of twelve chapters on two-hundred forty pages and contains a representative list of nearly two hundred references. Each chapter ends with a summary briefly outlining the main ideas. The significant ideas are illustrated by well chosen examples. … The book is useful for everybody interested in agent-based systems … . For his/her benefit, he/she gets didactically a perfect book presenting a unified view of a heterogeneous field of agent-based systems." (Tomas Brandejsky, Neural Network World, Vol. 14 (5), 2004) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

  Mark d’Inverno has been working in the field of agent-based systems for well over 10 years and is currently Professor of Computer Science in the Cavendish School of Computer Science at the University of Westminster. He gained a BA in Mathematics in 1986 and an MSc in Computation in 1988 both from Oxford University, and in 1998 was awarded a PhD from University College London. He has published numerous papers in the area and is an expert in formal sepcification of agent systems. Prof d’Inverno is a founder of the UKMAS workshops, has chaired two UKMAS wortkshops and is a member of the UKMAS Steering Committee. He sits on several conference and workshop programme committees. Michael Luck is a Senior Lecturer in the Intelligence, Agents and Multimedia Group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, UK. He has worked in the field of agent technology and multi-agent systems for over ten years, having previously led the Agent-Based Systems Group at the University of Warwick for seven years, and having gained his PhD from University College London in 1993 for work on agent-based discovery. Dr Luck is a co-founder of the UK Special Interest Group on Multi-Agent Systems, and currently Chair of the UKMAS Steering Committee. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of FIPA (the agent standards body), MAAMAW (the European agent conference) and CEEMAS (the Central and Eastern European agent conference). He has served on numerous programme committees for agent conferences and workshops, and has organised and chaired several international conferences in the area of agents, including those for industry. Dr Luck has contributed to policy making forums for national and European agencies, has reviewed proposals for many national and international funding agencies, and has published extensively in this area (with over 75 papers and 5 books). Since 2000, he has been Director of AgentLink, the European Network of Excellence for Agent-Based Computing. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 191 pages
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag; 1 edition (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540419756
• ISBN-13: 978-3540419754
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,819,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful framework for agents, with helpful case studies., August 18, 2001

By 

Ben Beitler (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Agent Systems (Hardcover)

There are several books on intelligent agents and multi-agents systems that I've come across, but most are either too broad-ranging and shallow so that they don't actually get to important core issues, or they're too narrow and mathematical for my liking (and for many others). This excellent book somehow manages to pull off the feat of providing a good introduction to agents, while also drilling down to some fascinating and deep issues in multi-agent systems. What's particularly good is that it does two things - it analyses and explains the issues with really clear textual description, and then provides a more formal description (using the Z specification language) that is surprisingly readable.

After providing an introductory chapter, the book presents a "framework" for understanding agent systems (hence the title) in which it brings together various different notions of agents. The chapters cover the framework itself, the different kinds of inter-agent

relationships that arise within it (to get to multi-agent systems), and more complex agents with greater sophistication. There are also a couple of case-study chapters that show how the model can be used to give descriptions of BDI systems and the contract net.

Throughout, the authors provide really good explanations, and then also formal descriptions using Z. Whether or not you buy the claim that Z is the most used industrial formal method, it turns out that despite the mathematical nature of the Z specification, the book as a whole is really very readable. It is worth noting that the level of mathematical description in the book for describing the framework and the systems is pretty close to abstract code descriptions (which is perhaps not surprising given that Z is intended for use for specifying software). With the appendix intro to Z, the book should also be a useful resource for developers wanting to understand exactly what would be involved in building systems.

One of the difficulties I've found when reading about agents is trying to make sense of some very different ideas and systems, and trying to understand how they fit together. This book provides some of the answers. In summary, the book covers some basic agent concepts, and builds them up to describe quite complex multi-agent systems, moving from abstract ideas to descriptions of specific implemented systems, and showing how they come together. It provides an excellent

introduction to agents, and keeps going to address some much deeper issues.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Must-have Book about Agent Systems, November 16, 2001

By 

C.H. Douglas (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Agent Systems (Hardcover)

If you only buy one book on agent systems you could do a whole lot worse than splash out on this thoroughly admirable and admirably thorough work from d'Inverno and Luck. Easy to follow (even if your Z spec is a bit rusty, as mine is), clear and really well set out. The authors have a deep understanding of their subject and a rare ability to communicate their ideas.