System Name: Nomadic Pict
Current Version: alpha
Organization: University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory
Entry status: authoritative
Supported platforms:
All platforms supported by OCaml (http://caml.inria.fr/) which you need to compile Nomadic Pict sources.
Supported languages:
Nomadic Pict is a new programming language; it extends Pict ver. 4.*.
Implemented standards: none
Type of migration:
strong
How many threads or processes are possible per agent? unlimited
Local communication mechanisms and format of data:
Communication on channels in the Pi Calculus style.
Global communication mechanisms:
Communication on channels in the Nomadic Pi Calculus style.
How the communication partner can be addressed:
Agents can communicate in the location-independent way, i.e. by specifying the name of the target agent and the name of the local channel at the target agent where the message will be placed in.
It is possible to choose different communication infrastructure algorithms (also implemented in Nomadic Pict) that will deliver the messages.
Alternatively, you can use the location-dependent communication and in order to communicate with a mobile agent you need also to specify the current site of the agent. This mode does not require any distributed infrastructure algorithm but is less convenient for implementing applications in which mobile agents migrate often.
Resource access control mechanism:
none
Agent tracking:
It is possible to use whichever matches best the needs of your application! Many different infastructure algorithms have been implemented so far and you are welcome to implement more (which is very easy in Nomadic Pict) and add to the
Directory of services:
see above
Type of code migration:
The subject of migration is the agent's code and current state, i.e. any concurrent processes and the content of channels that are used by the agent for communication.
Other special features:
The name Nomadic Pict describes both a strongly typed programming language and the runtime system which implements the code execution and mobility.
The language semantics has been described formally within a framework
of process calculi. It has been implemented to study the distributed
infrastructures required for location-independent communication between migrating agents.
Availability:
Distribution files, documentation, and examples are available from http://lsrwww.epfl.ch/~pawel/nomadicpict.html
License terms:
GNU general public licence
Article that describe the current system best:
"Nomadic Pict: Language and Infrastructure Design for Mobile Agents", Pawel Wojciechowski and Peter Sewell. Appeared in ASA/MA'99 (First International Symposium on Agent Systems and Applications/Third
International Symposium on Mobile Agents), October 1999.
Year of first publication of systems description: 1998
Project URL: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/pes20/nomadicpict.html
Contacts Email Address: Pawel.Wojciechowski@epfl.ch
Last modification date of this entry: Wed Nov 27 15:50:35 MET 2002