A pattern-based development tool for mobile agents

ABSTRACT

Mobile agents are a technology that is applicable in several courses. However, the development of applications using mobile agents can be difficult and time-consuming for students. To address this problem, a tool called Mobile Agent Development Environment (MADE) is presented. MADE facilitates the rapid creation of mobile agent based applications through a pattern-based code generating wizard. MADE organizes and offers the creation of mobile agents based on their characteristics and behavior. MADE is based on the IBM Aglets API. MADE also offers easy-to-use plug-ins for course specific domains such as database and networking. Initial testing has shown that 55% of the code needed for simple applications can be generated quickly and automatically using the described tool.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation

Keywords:
design patterns, development tool, distributed systems, mobile agents