Perl for Multi-agent system?

cormanaz has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Good day monks. I'm wondering if one can use Perl to develop a multi-agent system--e.g. several "agents" running as independent processes that talk to one another to do a task. I want to get started researching this, but I'm not too sure where I should be looking.

For example, I've been looking at PerlSvc, which comes with the Activestate Perl Dev Kit. It seems like its services could be used as agents, but it's not too clear to me how you would get the services to talk to one another. Also the documentation on it is pretty minimal.

Any guidance to relevant reading and/or code samples would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

Comment on Perl for Multi-agent system?

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Re: Perl for Multi-agent system? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Sep 25, 2005 at 18:52 UTC
Insufficient information. You could use multiple processes or multiple threads. Communications could be through memory, pipes, sockets, queues, messages, the filesystem or a database. Some of these will be more appropriate for some applications, others for others. Which will depend upon what you are trying to do? A few (of many possible) questions: Why multiple agents? Single or cross platform? Run on demand or (semi-)permanent daemons? Data sources and loads (both individual 'processes' and shared)? Is this a batch-type process (start-process-finish) or an interactive process (initiated by 'clients', multiple concurrent clients)? Basically, your description doesn't begin to say what you are trying to achieve, so any answer is pure speculation. Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal? "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". The "good enough" maybe good enough for the now, and perfection maybe unobtainable, but that should not preclude us from striving for perfection, when time, circumstance or desire allow.	[reply]
Re: Perl for Multi-agent system? by rinceWind (Monsignor) on Sep 26, 2005 at 09:49 UTC
You might want to check out POE -- Oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ? My friends all rate Windows, I must disagree. Your powers of persuasion will set them all free, So oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ? (Missquoting Janis Joplin)	[reply]