In computer science, a software agent is a piece of autonomous, or semi-autonomous proactive and reactive, computer software. Many individual communicative software agents may form a multi-agent system. Computer science (academically, CS, CSC or compsci) encompasses a variety of topics that relates to computation, like abstract analysis of algorithms, formal grammars, and subjects such as programming languages, program design, software and computer hardware. ... Autonomy is the condition of something that does not depend on anything else. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... In computer science, a multi-agent system (MAS) is a system composed of several agents, capable of mutual interaction. ...

To be considered an agent, a software object must be a self-contained program that is capable of making independent decisions and taking actions to satisfy internal goals based upon its perceived environment.

Examples

• user agent - for browsing the World Wide Web
• mail transfer agent - for serving e-mail
• SNMP agent
• DAML
• daemons in Unix-like systems. See the mascot for BSD systems. CTSS first named daemons; see also Maxwell's demon.
• In Unix-style networking servers, httpd is an HTTP daemon which implements the Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol at the root of the World Wide Web
• Management agents used to manage telecom devices

The definition of agent processing can be approached from two interrelated directions: A user agent is the client application used with a particular network protocol; the phrase is most commonly used in reference to those which access the World Wide Web. ... A mail transfer agent or MTA (also called a mail server, or a mail exchange server in the context of the Domain Name System) is a computer program or software agent which transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another. ... The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) forms part of the internet protocol suite as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force. ... On the Semantic Web, the DARPA agent markup language (DAML) aims to enable the next generation of the web — a web that moves from simply displaying content to one that actually understands the meaning of the content. ... In Unix and other computer operating systems, a daemon (disk and execution monitor) – sometimes called a phantom – is a particular class of computer program that runs in the background, rather than under the direct control of a user; they are usually instantiated as processes. ... A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to the UNIX system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... BSD redirects here; for other uses see BSD (disambiguation). ... This article is about the MIT Project MAC operating system. ... Maxwells Demon is a character in an 1867 thought experiment by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, meant to illustrate the Second law of Thermodynamics. ... Apache HTTP Server is an open source HTTP web server for Unix platforms (BSD, Linux, and UNIX systems), Microsoft Windows, and other platforms. ... A Management agent is a software agent that runs on a managed node (example: a router) and provides an interface to manage it. ...

• internal state processing and ontologies for representing knowledge
• interaction protocols - standards for specifying communication of tasks

Agent systems are used to model real world systems with concurrency or parallel processing. Concurrency has several meanings: Concurrent programming, also known as parallel programming. ...

See also

• GNUBrain - Implementation of a multi agent framework (GPL)

External links

• http://www.agentland.com/ - Commercial site
• http://fipa.org/ - Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents
• http://www.msci.memphis.edu/~franklin/AgentProg.html - University of Memphis, Department of Mathematical Sciences paper entitled "Is it an Agent, or just a Program?: A Taxonomy for Autonomous Agents"
• http://agtivity.com/ - Focuses on turning the construction and deployment of Software Agent Technology into a science rather than folklore and ad-hoc art and craft
• http://agtivity.com/aglinks.htm - Extensive list of web-based resources for Software Agent Technology

Further reading

• Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd Edition) by Stuart J. Russell & Peter Norvig, (2002) Prentice Hall, ISBN 0137903952