Programming with Agents - Contents

• Abstract
• Doctoral dissertation committee
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • 1.1 LiveWorld: an Animate Programming Environment
  • 1.2 Examples of Animate Systems
    • 1.2.1 Video Games and Animation
    • 1.2.2 Animal Behavior Models
    • 1.2.3 Graphic Layout and Interactive Constraints
    • 1.2.4 Blocks World
    • 1.2.5 Putting it All Together
  • 1.3 Influences and Inspirations
    • 1.3.1 Society of Mind
    • 1.3.2 Cybernetics, Ethology, Situated Action
    • 1.3.3 Constructivism and Constructionism
    • 1.3.4 Interactive Construction Environments
  • 1.4 Overview of the Thesis
    • 1.4.1 Analysis of Metaphors for Programming
    • 1.4.2 Agents and Animacy
    • 1.4.3 The LiveWorld Programming Environment
    • 1.4.4 Agent-Based Programming
• Chapter 2: Metaphors and Models for Computation
  • 2.1 Theories of Metaphor
    • 2.1.1 The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor
      • 2.1.1.1 The Conduit Metaphor
    • 2.1.2 Dead Metaphors
    • 2.1.3 The Metaphorical Nature of Scientific Understanding
    • 2.1.4 Formalization and Metaphor
  • 2.2 Metaphors in Programming
    • 2.2.1 The Idea of Computation
    • 2.2.2 Metaphors Make Computation Tangible
    • 2.2.3 Metaphoric Models for Computation
      • 2.2.3.1 The Imperative Model
      • 2.2.3.2 The Functional Model
      • 2.2.3.3 The Procedural Model
      • 2.2.3.4 The Object Model
      • 2.2.3.5 The Constraint Model
    • 2.2.4 Interface Metaphors
  • 2.3 Conclusion
• Chapter 3: Animacy and Agents
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 The Realm of Animacy
    • 3.2.1 The Perception of Causality
    • 3.2.2 The Development of Animism as a Category
    • 3.2.3 Frameworks of Understanding
    • 3.2.4 Animacy and the Representation of Action
    • 3.2.5 Conclusion: the Nature of Animacy
  • 3.3 Animacy and Computation
    • 3.3.1 Animism at the Origins of Computation
    • 3.3.2 Animacy in Programming
      • 3.3.2.1 The Little-Person Metaphor
    • 3.3.3 Body- and Ego-Syntonic Metaphors
    • 3.3.4 Anthropomorphism in the Interface
    • 3.3.5 Animate Metaphors in Artificial Intelligence
    • 3.3.6 Conclusion: Computation Relies on Animate Metaphors
  • 3.4 Agent-Based Programming Paradigms
    • 3.4.1 Principles of Agent-Based Programming
      • 3.4.1.1 Purpose, Goals, and Conflict
      • 3.4.1.2 Autonomy
      • 3.4.1.3 Reactivity
    • 3.4.2 Computational Realizations of Agents
      • 3.4.2.1 Agent as Process
      • 3.4.2.2 Agent as Rule
      • 3.4.2.3 Agent as Enhanced Object
      • 3.4.2.4 Agent as Slot and Value-Producer
      • 3.4.2.5 Agent as Behavioral Controller
    • 3.4.3 Agents and Narrative
  • 3.5 Conclusion
• Chapter 4: LiveWorld
  • 4.1 Overview of LiveWorld
  • 4.2 Design
    • 4.2.1 General Goals
    • 4.2.2 A World of Lively Objects
    • 4.2.3 Spatial Metaphor and Direct Manipulation
    • 4.2.4 Prototype-based Object-oriented Programming
    • 4.2.5 Improvisational Programming
    • 4.2.6 Parsimony
    • 4.2.7 Metacircularity
    • 4.2.8 Graphic Realism and Liveness
    • 4.2.9 Learning Path
    • 4.2.10 Rich Starting Environment; Libraries
  • 4.3 Box Basics
    • 4.3.1 Boxes Form a Hierarchical Namespace
    • 4.3.2 Inheritance, Prototypes and Cloning
    • 4.3.3 The Basic Box Display
    • 4.3.4 Theatrical Metaphor
  • 4.4 Interface Details
    • 4.4.1 Selection
    • 4.4.2 Menus
    • 4.4.3 Mouse Operations
    • 4.4.4 Cloning
    • 4.4.5 Inheritance
    • 4.4.6 Interestingness
    • 4.4.7 Box Sizes and Positions
  • 4.5 Language Extensions
    • 4.5.1 Accessors for Boxes
    • 4.5.2 Message-Passing with ask
    • 4.5.3 Methods
    • 4.5.4 Relative Box Reference
      • 4.5.4.1 Self
      • 4.5.4.2 Boxpaths
    • 4.5.5 Demons
    • 4.5.6 Global Object
  • 4.6 Specialized Objects
    • 4.6.1 Animas and Agents
    • 4.6.2 Specialized Slots
    • 4.6.3 Computed Slots
    • 4.6.4 Sensors
    • 4.6.5 Multimedia Objects
    • 4.6.6 K-lines
  • 4.7 Miscellaneous Issues
    • 4.7.1 Shallow vs. Deep Cloning
    • 4.7.2 Internal Frames
    • 4.7.3 Deleting Boxes
    • 4.7.4 Install and Deinstall Protocol
    • 4.7.5 Error Handling
  • 4.8 Some Unresolved Issues
    • 4.8.1 Multiple Views of Actors
    • 4.8.2 Uniform Interfaces Have a Downside
    • 4.8.3 Cloning and Dependent Objects
  • 4.9 Relations to Other Work
    • 4.9.1 Boxer and Logo
    • 4.9.2 Self
    • 4.9.3 Alternate Reality Kit
    • 4.9.4 Rehearsal World
    • 4.9.5 ágora
    • 4.9.6 IntelligentPad
  • 4.10 Conclusion
• Chapter 5: Programming with Agents
  • 5.1 Simple Agent Architectures
    • 5.1.1 Simple Agents
      • 5.1.1.1 Simulating Concurrency
      • 5.1.1.2 Handling Conflict
      • 5.1.1.3 Presenting Conflict Situations to the User
      • 5.1.1.4 Behavior Libraries
    • 5.1.2 Goal Agents
    • 5.1.3 A Comparison: Teleo-Reactive Programming
  • 5.2 Dynamic Agents
    • 5.2.1 Overview
    • 5.2.2 Structures
      • 5.2.2.1 Tasks
      • 5.2.2.2 Agents
      • 5.2.2.3 Templates
    • 5.2.3 Control
      • 5.2.3.1 Activation and Expansion
      • 5.2.3.2 Cycles
      • 5.2.3.3 Success and Failure
    • 5.2.4 Special Tasks
      • 5.2.4.1 Combining Tasks
      • 5.2.4.2 Control Tasks
      • 5.2.4.3 Primitive Tasks
      • 5.2.4.4 Internal Special Tasks
    • 5.2.5 Domain Tasks and Templates: Examples
      • 5.2.5.1 Numerical Constraints; Equality
      • 5.2.5.2 Geometry
      • 5.2.5.3 Behavior
    • 5.2.6 Conflict
      • 5.2.6.1 Slot Conflict
      • 5.2.6.2 Goal Conflict
    • 5.2.7 Determination
  • 5.3 Interface
    • 5.3.1 Top-Level Tasks
    • 5.3.2 Auto-tasks and Locks
    • 5.3.3 The Agent Display
    • 5.3.4 Controlling When and How Agents Run
    • 5.3.5 Agent Displays and Storyboards
  • 5.4 Additional Examples of Agent Systems
    • 5.4.1 A Video Game
    • 5.4.2 A Physical Simulation
    • 5.4.3 A More Complex Graphic Constraint Problem
    • 5.4.4 A Creature in Conflict
    • 5.4.5 An Ant
    • 5.4.6 A Recursive Function
    • 5.4.7 A Scripted Animation
    • 5.4.8 BUILDER in the Blocks World
  • 5.5 Discussion
    • 5.5.1 DA as a Procedural Language
    • 5.5.2 DA as a Behavioral Control System
    • 5.5.3 DA as a Constraint System
      • 5.5.3.1 Related Work
    • 5.5.4 DA and Anthropomorphism
      • 5.5.4.1 Creation of Agents
      • 5.5.4.2 Agents, Tasks, and Templates
      • 5.5.4.3 Are Agents Too Low-level?
      • 5.5.4.4 Variants of Anthropomorphic Mapping
  • 5.6 Summary
• Chapter 6: Conclusions
  • 6.1 Summary and Contributions
  • 6.2 Related Work
    • 6.2.1. KidSim
    • 6.2.2. Agentsheets
    • 6.2.3. ToonTalk
  • 6.3 Directions for further research
    • 6.3.1 What Can Novices Do with Agents?
    • 6.3.2 Can Agent Activity Be Made More Understandable to the User?
    • 6.3.3 Can Agent Systems Be Made More Powerful?
    • 6.3.4 Can Agents be Organized in Different Ways?
    • 6.3.5 Can the Environment Be Agents All the Way Down?
    • 6.3.6 Agents in Shared Worlds
  • 6.4 Last Word
• Bibliography