158 Chapter 6 agent-Based systems
applications. The discipline of agents is a fusion of ideas and concepts from
other areas as diverse as biology, mathematics, sociology, philosophy, com-
puter science, and ethology.
The term “agent” is loosely defined in computer terminology. This
chapter presents a general definition of an agent and discusses its character-
istics. In the next section, the architecture of a typical agent is shown. The
advantages agent technology offers are then discussed. Agents are classified
into various groups, according to their characteristics (like mobility) or by
the role they play. A few types of agents are discussed, along with their ar-
chitectural diagrams and applications. Agents must communicate with ...