Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Seamless Integration and Testing for MAS Engineering

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Engineering Multi-Agent Systems (EMAS 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 13190))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Testing undeniably plays a central role in the daily practice of software engineering, and this explains why better and more efficient libraries and services are continuously made available to developers and designers. Could the MAS developers community similarly benefit from utilizing state-of-the-art testing approaches? The paper investigates the possibility of bringing modern software testing tools as those used in mainstream software engineering into multi-agent systems engineering. Our contribution explores and illustrates, by means of a concrete example, the possible interactions between the agent-based programming framework ASC2 (AgentScript Cross-Compiler) and various testing approaches (unit/agent testing, integration/system testing, continuous integration) and elaborate on how the design choices of ASC2 enable these interactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://travis-ci.com/.

  2. 2.

    https://circleci.com/.

  3. 3.

    https://akka.io.

  4. 4.

    https://scala-sbt.org/.

  5. 5.

    https://github.com/mostafamohajeri/sbt-scriptcc.

  6. 6.

    https://github.com/mostafamohajeri/agentscript-test.

  7. 7.

    http://scoverage.org/.

  8. 8.

    https://github.com/.

  9. 9.

    https://coveralls.io/.

  10. 10.

    https://travis-ci.com/github/mostafamohajeri/agentscript-test.

  11. 11.

    https://coveralls.io/github/mostafamohajeri/agentscript-test.

References

  1. Software testing services market by product, end-users, and geography - global forecast and analysis 2019–2023 (2019). https://www.industryresearch.co/software-testing-services-market-14620379

  2. Bakar, N.A., Selamat, A.: Agent systems verification : systematic literature review and mapping. Appl. Intell. 48(5), 1251–1274 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-017-1112-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Behrens, T.M., Dix, J.: Model checking multi-agent systems with logic based Petri nets. Ann. Math. Artif. Intell. 51(2–4), 81–121 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10472-008-9092-7

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Bordini, R.H., Fisher, M., Visser, W., Wooldridge, M.: Verifiable multi-agent programs. In: Dastani, M.M., Dix, J., El Fallah-Seghrouchni, A. (eds.) ProMAS 2003. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3067, pp. 72–89. Springer, Heidelberg (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-25936-7_4

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Bordini, R.H., Fisher, M., Visser, W., Wooldridge, M.: Verifying multi-agent programs by model checking. Auton. Agent. Multi-Agent Syst. 12(2), 239–256 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-006-5955-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bordini, R.H., Hübner, J.F., Vieira, R.: Jason and the golden fleece of agent-oriented programming. In: Bordini, R.H., Dastani, M., Dix, J., El Fallah Seghrouchni, A. (eds.) Multi-Agent Programming. MSASSO, vol. 15, pp. 3–37. Springer, Boston, MA (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-26350-0_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Botía, J.A., Gómez-Sanz, J.J., Pavón, J.: Intelligent data analysis for the verification of multi-agent systems interactions. In: Corchado, E., Yin, H., Botti, V., Fyfe, C. (eds.) IDEAL 2006. LNCS, vol. 4224, pp. 1207–1214. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/11875581_143

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Cardoso, R.C., Zatelli, M.R., Hübner, J.F., Bordini, R.H.: Towards benchmarking actor- and agent-based programming languages. In: Proceedings of the 2013 Workshop on Programming Based on Actors, Agents, and Decentralized Control, AGERE! 2013, pp. 115–126. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Clarke, E.M., Grumberg, O., Peled, D.A.: Model Checking. MIT Press, Cambridge (2000)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Coelho, R., Kulesza, U., von Staa, A., Lucena, C.: Unit testing in multi-agent systems using mock agents and aspects. In: International Workshop on Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems, SELMAS 2006, pp. 83–90 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Dastani, M.: 2APL: a practical agent programming language. Auton. Agent. Multi-Agent Syst. 16(3), 214–248 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-008-9036-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. David, N., Sichman, J.S., Coelho, H.: Towards an emergence-driven software process for agent-based simulation. In: Simão Sichman, J., Bousquet, F., Davidsson, P. (eds.) MABS 2002. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 2581, pp. 89–104. Springer, Heidelberg (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36483-8_7

    Chapter  MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Dennis, L.A., Fisher, M., Lincoln, N.K., Lisitsa, A., Veres, S.M.: Practical verification of decision-making in agent-based autonomous systems. Autom. Softw. Eng. 23(3), 305–359 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10515-014-0168-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Dhaon, A., Collier, R.W.: Multiple inheritance in AgentSpeak (L)-style programming languages. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Programming Based on Actors Agents and Decentralized Control. Association for Computing Machinery (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ekinci, E.E., Tiryaki, A.M., Çetin, Ö., Dikenelli, O.: Goal-oriented agent testing revisited. In: Luck, M., Gomez-Sanz, J.J. (eds.) Agent-Oriented Software Engineering IX, AOSE 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 5386, pp. 173–186. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Ferber, J.: Multi-Agent Systems: An Introduction to Distributed Artificial Intelligence. USA, 1st edn. (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ferrando, A., Dennis, L.A., Ancona, D., Fisher, M., Mascardi, V.: Verifying and validating autonomous systems: towards an integrated approach. In: Colombo, C., Leucker, M. (eds.) RV 2018. LNCS, vol. 11237, pp. 263–281. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03769-7_15

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Fisher, M., Mascardi, V., Rozier, K.Y., Schlingloff, B.-H., Winikoff, M., Yorke-Smith, N.: Towards a framework for certification of reliable autonomous systems. Auton. Agent. Multi-Agent Syst. 35(1), 1–65 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-020-09487-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Herzig, A., Lorini, E., Perrussel, L., Xiao, Z.: BDI logics for BDI architectures: old problems, new perspectives. KI - Künstliche Intelligenz 31(1), 73–83 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-016-0457-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hewitt, C.: Actor model of computation: scalable robust information systems (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Hewitt, C., Bishop, P., Steiger, R.: A universal modular actor formalism for artificial intelligence. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI 1973, pp. 235–245. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hindriks, K.V.: Programming rational agents in GOAL. In: El Fallah Seghrouchni, A., Dix, J., Dastani, M., Bordini, R.H. (eds.) Multi-Agent Programming, pp. 119–157. Springer, Boston, MA (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89299-3_4

    Chapter  MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. Kampik, T., Nieves, J.C.: JS-son - a lean, extensible JavaScript agent programming library. In: Dennis, L.A., Bordini, R.H., Lespérance, Y. (eds.) EMAS 2019. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 12058, pp. 215–234. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51417-4_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  24. Khamis, M.A., Nagi, K.: Designing multi-agent unit tests using systematic test design patterns (extended version). Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell. 26(9), 2128–2142 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Koeman, V.J., Hindriks, K.V., Jonker, C.M.: Automating failure detection in cognitive agent programs. In: Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, AAMAS pp. 1237–1246 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  26. McCabe, T.J.: A complexity measure. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. SE-2(4), 308–320 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Mohajeri Parizi, M., Sileno, G., van Engers, T., Klous, S.: Run, agent, run! architecture and benchmarking of actor-based agents. In: proceedings of Programming based on Actors, Agents, and Decentralized Control (AGERE 2020), pp. 11–20 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Moreno, M., Pavón, J., Rosete, A.: Testing in agent oriented methodologies. In: Omatu, S., Rocha, Miguel P.., Bravo, José, Fernández, Florentino, Corchado, Emilio, Bustillo, Andrés, Corchado, Juan M.. (eds.) IWANN 2009. LNCS, vol. 5518, pp. 138–145. Springer, Heidelberg (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  29. Myers, G.J., Sandler, C.: The Art of Software Testing. Wiley, Hoboken (2012)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  30. Nguyen, C.D., Perini, A., Bernon, C., Pavón, J., Thangarajah, J.: Testing in multi-agent systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6038 LNCS, pp. 180–190 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Padgham, L., Zhang, Z., Thangarajah, J., Miller, T.: Model-based test oracle generation for automated unit testing of agent systems. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 39(9), 1230–1244 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Padgham, L., Winikoff, M.: Developing Intelligent Agent Systems: A Practical Guide, vol. 13. Wiley, Hoboken (2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  33. Poutakidis, D., Winikoff, M., Padgham, L., Zhang, Z.: Debugging and testing of multi-agent systems using design artefacts. In: El Fallah Seghrouchni, A., Dix, J., Dastani, M., Bordini, R.H. (eds.) Multi-Agent Programming, pp. 215–258. Springer, Boston, MA (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89299-3_7

    Chapter  MATH  Google Scholar 

  34. Rao, A.S.: AgentSpeak(L): BDI agents speak out in a logical computable language. In: Van de Velde, W., Perram, J.W. (eds.) MAAMAW 1996. LNCS, vol. 1038, pp. 42–55. Springer, Heidelberg (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0031845

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  35. Rao, A.S., Georgeff, M.P.: BDI agents: from theory to practice. In: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS1995), pp. 312–319 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Rodriguez, S., Gaud, N., Galland, S.: Sarl: a general-purpose agent-oriented programming language. In: International Joint Conferences on Web Intelligence (WI) and Intelligent Agent Technologies (IAT), vol. 3, pp. 103–110 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Winikoff, M.: BDI agent testability revisited. Auton. Agent. Multi-Agent Syst. 31(5), 1094–1132 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-016-9356-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Winikoff, M., Cranefield, S.: On the testability of BDI agent systems. IJCAI Int. Joint Conf. Artif. Intell. 51, 4217–4221 (2015)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  39. Winikoff, M., Dennis, L., Fisher, M.: Slicing agent programs for more efficient verification. In: Weyns, D., Mascardi, V., Ricci, A. (eds.) EMAS 2018. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 11375, pp. 139–157. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25693-7_8

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  40. Winikoff, M., Padgham, L., Harland, J., Thangarajah, J.: Declarative and procedural goals in intelligent agent systems. In: 8th International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, KR 2002, pp. 470–481 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Zhang, Z., Thangarajah, J., Padgham, L.: Automated unit testing for agent systems, 7 10–18 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Zhou, X., Cushing, R., Grosso, P., Engers, T.V.: Policy enforcement for secure and trustworthy data sharing in multi-domain infrastructures. In: Engineering Multi-Agent Systems, pp. 104–113 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The work as presented in this paper has been done as part of the Dutch Research project ‘Data Logistics for Logistics Data’ (DL4LD), supported by the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Dutch Institute for Advanced Logistics ‘TKI Dinalog’ (http://www.dinalog.nl/) and the Dutch Commit-to-Data initiative (http://www.dutchdigitaldelta.nl/big- data/over-commit2data) (grant no: 628.009.001).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Mostafa Mohajeri Parizi, Giovanni Sileno & Tom van Engers

Authors
  1. Mostafa Mohajeri Parizi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Giovanni Sileno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tom van Engers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mostafa Mohajeri Parizi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Natasha Alechina

  2. University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Matteo Baldoni

  3. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Brian Logan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Mohajeri Parizi, M., Sileno, G., van Engers, T. (2022). Seamless Integration and Testing for MAS Engineering. In: Alechina, N., Baldoni, M., Logan, B. (eds) Engineering Multi-Agent Systems. EMAS 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13190. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97457-2_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97457-2_15

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-97456-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-97457-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation