A strictly declarative language for multi-agent modelling

摘要

A programming language which is optimised for modelling multi-agent interaction within articulated social structures such as organizations is described with several examples of its functionality. The language is SDML, a strictly declarative modelling language which has object-oriented features and corresponds to a known formal logic. The virtues of SDML include the ease of building complex models and the facility for representing agents flexibly as models of cognition as well as modularity and code reusability. Features of SDML are illustrated by a model of an economic system with cognitive agents and explicit representation of transactions as a process of negotiation and agreement leading to exchange.