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Fifth Annual Tcl/Tk Workshop, 1997
Agent Development Support for Tcl
R. Scott Cost, Ian Soboroff, Jeegar Lakhani, Tim Finin, Ethan Miller and Charles Nicholas
Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Baltimore, Maryland
Abstract
In the past few years, the explosive growth of the Internet has
allowed the construction of "virtual" systems containing hundreds or
thousands of individual, relatively inexpensive computers. The agent
paradigm is well-suited for this environment because it is based on
distributed autonomous computation. Although the definition of a
software agent varies widely, some common features are present in most
definitions of agents. Agents should be autonomous, operating
independently of their creator(s). Agents should have the ability
to move freely about the Internet. Agents should be able to adapt
readily to new information and changes in their environment. Finally,
agents should be able to communicate at a high level, in order to facilitate
coordination and cooperation among groups of agents. These aspects of
agency provide a dynamic framework for the design of distributed systems.
We present TKQML, the integration of an agent communication language,
KQML (Knowledge Query Manipulation Language) into
Tcl/Tk.
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