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In this paper, an agent architecture is proposed that can be used to integrate pre-existing components that provide the domain dependent agent functionality. The key integrating feature of the agent is an active message board that is used for inter-component, hence intra-agent communication. The board is active because it automatically forwards messages to components, they do not have to poll the message board. It does this on the basis of message pattern functions that components place on the board using advertisement messages. These functions can contain component provided semantic tests on the content of the message, they can also communicate with any other component whilst they are being applied. In addition an agent management toolkit, called ALFA, is described which offers a set of agent management services. This toolkit consists of a number of servers for storing the code of the components and symbolic descriptions of what agents regarding their component makeup. A third server uses all this information to facilitate launching new agents. Two prototype systems are also presented where the presented infrastructure has been applied. The one involves an agent based system used to control the environmental conditions in a building and the second is an agent based network management application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key concepts of the parallel logic programming language PARLOG are introduced by comparing the language with Prolog. Some familiarity with Prolog and with the concepts of logic programming is assumed. Two major application areas of PARLOG, systems programming and object oriented programming are illustrated. Other applications are briefly surveyed. This paper is a revision of [3]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common basis is presented for Floyd's method of inductive assertions and for the subgoal induction method of Morris and Wegbreit. This basis is provided by consequence verification, a method for verifying logic programs. We connect flowcharts with logic programs by giving a recursive definition of the set of all computations of a flowchart. This definition can he given in two ways: the recursion can run forward or backward. Both definitions can be expressed in logic, resulting in a logic program which is then subjected to consequence verification. Verification of the forward logic program is shown to be essentially Floyd's method; verification of the backward program corresponds similarly to subgoal induction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]