Information-driven interaction-oriented programming: BSPL, the blindingly simple protocol language

We present a novel approach to interaction-oriented programming based on declaratively representing communication protocols. Our approach exhibits the following distinguishing features. First, it treats a protocol as an engiabstraction in its own right. Second, it models a protocol in terms of the information that the protocol needs to proceed (so agents enact it properly) and the information the protocol would produce (when it is enacted). Third, it naturally maps traditional operational constraints to the information needs of protocols, thereby obtaining the desired interactions without additional effort or reasoning. Fourth, our approach naturally supports shared nothing enactments: everything of relevance is included in the communications and no separate global state need be maintained. Fifth, our approach accommodates, but does not require, formal representations of the meanings of the protocols. We evaluate this approach via examples from the literature. Categories and Subject ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Munindar P. Singh
• Keywords: ATAL 2011, Formal Representations, Intelligent Agents, Literature Categories, Operational Constraints