CODE 90545 ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/2020 CREDITS 6 cfu anno 1 COMPUTER SCIENCE 10852 (LM-18) - GENOVA SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR INF/01 LANGUAGE English TEACHING LOCATION GENOVA SEMESTER 1° Semester TEACHING MATERIALS AULAWEB OVERVIEW Multiagent systems (MASs) have emerged as one of the most important areas of research and development in information technology. A MAS is composed of multiple interacting software components (agents) capable of cooperating to solve problems that are beyond the abilities of any individual member. This course will introduce the students to the notion of an agent, and will lead them to understanding what an agent is, how they can be constructed, how agents can be made to cooperate effectively. AIMS AND CONTENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Getting acquainted with the concept of an agent and multiagent system, and learning how to design intelligent autonomous agents and how to deal with the main implementation issues. AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completing this course, a student will: -- understand the notion of an agent, how agents are distinct from other software paradigms (e.g., objects), and understand the characteristics of applications that lend themselves to an agent-oriented solution; -- understand the key issues associated with constructing agents capable of intelligent autonomous action, and the main approaches taken to developing such agents; -- understand the key issues and approaches to high-level communication in multiagent systems; -- understand the main application areas of agent-based solutions. TEACHING METHODS Traditional: frontal lessons and laboratories SYLLABUS/CONTENT Introduction to agents and MASs -- What is an agent, what is a MAS -- History of agents and MASs -- Agent-oriented software engineering Communication as action -- Foundations of the speech acts theory -- Issues in communication Agent-oriented programming (AOP): the foundations -- Jason Agent-based modeling and simulation -- NetLogo MAS infrastructures -- JADE Distributed AI: some classical issues -- Uninformed search -- Informed search -- Planning RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY The slides and the teaching material provided during the course is enough for following it TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD VIVIANA MASCARDI Ricevimento: Appointment by email Office: Valle Puggia – third floor Exam Board VIVIANA MASCARDI (President) GIORGIO DELZANNO FILIPPO RICCA LESSONS Class schedule The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy EXAMS EXAM DESCRIPTION The exam will consist in a written part (traditional open/closed questions and exercises) plus an individual project (requiring about 1 man/week to be completed). Each student will choose her/his most preferred project type and topic: as an example, a project might consist in writing a report on issues that have not been discussed in details during the course, or developing a SW component using one of the tools studied during the course, or experimenting with some new SW library/application and reporting the results of the experimentation to the teachers in a written document. In case of SW development, a short report accompanying the developed component is required. ASSESSMENT METHODS The acquisition of the skills foreseen by this course are assessed via the written exam + the project which have been carefully designed to allow the teacher to verify whether a student is actually able to: -- understand the notion of an agent, how agents are distinct from other software paradigms (e.g., objects), and understand the characteristics of applications that lend themselves to an agent-oriented solution; -- understand the key issues associated with constructing agents capable of intelligent autonomous action, and the main approaches taken to developing such agents; -- understand the key issues and approaches to high-level communication in multiagent systems; -- understand the main application areas of agent-based solutions. Exam schedule Data appello Orario Luogo Degree type Note 24/07/2020 09:00 GENOVA Esame su appuntamento 18/09/2020 09:00 GENOVA Esame su appuntamento 12/02/2021 09:00 GENOVA Esame su appuntamento