Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
number of support classes and an individual plugin for each of the languages developed
using the common language framework.
The core functionality provided by each of the individual plugins consists of;
1. An
Editor
to provide syntax highlighting on the various elements of the language.
2. A
Builder
to provide a mechanism for the automatic compilation of the agent code
and reporting of errors through eclipse.
3. A new file Wizard to automatically create an agent file from a template.
3
Prototyping an AOP Language
AOP language developers typically employ a wide range of techniques in the design and
implementation of an AOP language that includes the design of the underlying reason-
ing mechanisms, the definition of an interface to the environment, and the integration of
the interpreter with an associated run-time framework, and potentially the creation of an
associated development toolkit. In this section, we outline an approach to prototyping
AOP languages that attempts to remove many of these barriers to allow the developer
to focus on the core deliberation algorithm. We do this by advocating a simple structure
for the design of AOP languages that is based on the approach adopted in the design of
AFAPL2. We do not argue the this approach is better or more suitable, but advocate its
use for the purpose of ensuring greater consistency between languages.
Fig. 6.
CLF Language Development Process
The specific approach advocated combines the default logic implementation outlined
in section 2.1 together with the environmental interface described in Section 2.1.
In order to develop a new AOP language using AF, there are a number of key steps
to be followed. In this section, we outline these steps through a set of high level instruc-
tions, should the reader require more detailed information this is available through the
Agent Factory website
1
.
3.1
Language Design
First the specifications of the language must be defined, this includes both the syntax
of the language as well as the operation semantics of the interpreter. The former can be
achieved through the construction of a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) grammar describing
the unique constructs of the language, this can be done by creation of a grammar in the
case of a new language or the modification of an existing grammar when the language
1
http://www.agentfactory.com
