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Figure 4. Pyramid model of the educational grid
Interface of
functional units
Multi-agent
system
Client/server
model
Module
language
Lab
modules
Design theme
Application theme
Architectural
specification
the basis for MAS design. Each agent is then designed in the module language. The overall system is
specified in the λ-Calculus. In Figure 4, we can see the MAS is the conceptual model for implementing
grid services, and the interfaces of functional units define the interaction among functional units and
are the central part of the agent system. The interface also separates the architectural design from the
design of individual functional units.
Once the agent system has been designed, adding/deleting services or features in the grid will be
done in a top-down strategy (the Application Theme). If a service of a new type is to be added into the
system, for example, it is added into the architectural specification. Through an automatic transforma-
tion procedure, the specification is re-written into a MAS in the module language. The actual program
that encodes the services is then incorporated into the system through the standard interface. Therefore,
updating services or lab exercises in the system will not cause any change in other parts of the system
and correctness and reliability of the system can be ensured to the maximum extent.
The central component of this architecture is the interfaces of the functional units, to ensure the
correctness of the design, the interfaces will be specified logically. Then, λ-Calculus will be derived
to give the operational specifications of interfaces and guide the further design of the functional units
in the module language.
r ela ted works
A number of architecture description languages (ADLs) have recently been proposed to cope with the
complexity of architectural engineering. These include Rapide (Luckham et. al., 1995), Darwin (Magee
& Kramer, 1996), Aseop (Garlan, Allen, & Ockerbloom, 1994), Unicon (Shaw, et. al., 1995), and ACME
(Garlan, Monroe, & Wile, 1997). ADLs provide constructs for specifying architectural abstractions in
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