Book details of 'Agent Technology Handbook (McGraw-Hill Computer Communications Series)'

Title	Agent Technology Handbook (McGraw-Hill Computer Communications Series)
Author(s)	Dimitris N. Chorafas
ISBN	0070119236
Language	English
Published	September 1997
Publisher	McGraw Hill Text

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Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
In the computer virus research community there is a long-standing debate about the existence of "good" viruses. Some maintain that no self-reproducing program can be other than evil, while others maintain that it is possible to create viral types of programs that can perform useful functions and harness the power of multiple processors, and processes, in order to solve difficult problems. To date the debate is indeterminate, and recent discussions seem to turn on the question of whether a viral program can perform any better than, say, network software launched and controlled from a central source. This deliberation is germane to agent software because the same type of question arises. Can it be shown that agent software, by its nature, has useful advantages, and, if agents are programs that are useful, what is the distinctive of agent software? To date, expositions on agent technologies have not dealt well with these queries. Part one is a conceptual background to the topic. For any useful definition, agents must have a certain autonomy and act independently of, although on behalf of, the user. Chapter one looks at a range of relevant work in the field of artificial intelligence, necessary for that autonomous action. "Facts and Opportunities for Knowledge Workers" is supposed to be the theme for chapter two. Knowledge workers appear to be defined by a need for multimedia, virtual reality, banking, or micro-manufacturing, and the chapter returns to more AI work. Chapter three, entitled "Thinking Machines," turns again to artificial intelligence research, concentrating on those areas that might be considered to be knowledge based or expert systems. Overviews of KQML (Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language) and Telescript are given in chapter four. Part two is intended to provide examples of the things that agent technology could accomplish. A variety of experiments and projects in telecommunications are looked at in chapter five. The discussion of computer security in chapter six deals primarily with failures of security, of which there are no shortage of examples. Chapter seven defines software-hardware codesign for us, but the miscellaneous activities described in the piece bear little resemblance to the definition and almost none to each other. Network management is, interestingly, one of the most often cited uses for beneficial viral software as well, but chapter eight, once again, contains more stories of failure of standard systems than success with agent software. Finally, part three proposes to show how to implement agent technology. Much of chapter nine is a rambling, although interesting, philosophical discourse on the nature of creative thought as much as anything else. A similar lack of focus pervades chapter ten, engaging as the material may be. Chapter eleven presents a number of difficult problems for automation, many of which have been presented previously in the book. Some of the underlying structures for problem analysis are described in chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen presents another meander, including the importance of information to strategic planning, the year 2000 problem, and Web programming languages. I am not sure what to make of the fact that there are almost thirty pages of acknowledgements before the book starts. On the one hand, it is nice to know that the author is grateful to those that helped him. On the other, it is rather jarring to note that, in spite of extremely large headings and the inclusion of many addresses, there must be almost one person to thank for every page in the book. At the conclusion of the book, the questions outlined above remain. Agent technology persists as an undefined and unproven field. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998
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Book description:

This high-level book is aimed at technically sophisticated network managers and designers who need to know what agents are and what they can do for their corporate networks and Internet capabilities. This reference gives an in-depth look at agents in networks and telecommunications systems as well as the applications that work with agents.