Agent Programming with Declarative Goals [article]

F.S. de Boer, K.V. Hindriks, W. van der Hoek, J.-J.Ch. Meyer
2002 arXiv   pre-print
A long and lasting problem in agent research has been to close the gap between agent logics and agent programming frameworks. The main reason for this problem of establishing a link between agent logics and agent programming frameworks is identified and explained by the fact that agent programming frameworks have not incorporated the concept of a 'declarative goal'. Instead, such frameworks have focused mainly on plans or 'goals-to-do' instead of the end goals to be realised which are also
more » ... d 'goals-to-be'. In this paper, a new programming language called GOAL is introduced which incorporates such declarative goals. The notion of a 'commitment strategy' - one of the main theoretical insights due to agent logics, which explains the relation between beliefs and goals - is used to construct a computational semantics for GOAL. Finally, a proof theory for proving properties of GOAL agents is introduced. Thus, we offer a complete theory of agent programming in the sense that our theory provides both for a programming framework and a programming logic for such agents. An example program is proven correct by using this programming logic.
arXiv:cs/0207008v1 fatcat:hh32eowqqbcupjsu6cnc5c4o6a