Modelling with Agents

摘要

Modelling is gaining relevance in Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) because of two main reasons. Firstly, the conceptual frameworks have reached a level of maturity that makes it reasonable to devote effort to seek a consensus in modelling languages, including tool support. Secondly, the influence of model-driven engineering emphasizes the potential value of having models at the core of development processes. This survey analyzes these changes in AOSE modelling languages along three dimensions. The semantic dimension refers to the concepts considered in the languages. The syntactic dimension covers the technical means by which languages are defined. The operational dimension regards the use of these languages, considering both their support and acceptance. The overall context for this discussion is the comparison of several modern AOSE approaches.