Modelling of Multi-Agent Systems: Experiences with Membrane Computing and Future Challenges

Formal modelling of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) is a challenging task due to high complexity, interaction, parallelism and continuous change of roles and organisation between agents. In this paper we record our research experience on formal modelling of MAS. We review our research throughout the last decade, by describing the problems we have encountered and the decisions we have made towards resolving them and providing solutions. Much of this work involved membrane computing and classes of P Systems, such as Tissue and Population P Systems, targeted to the modelling of MAS whose dynamic structure is a prominent characteristic. More particularly, social insects (such as colonies of ants, bees, etc.), biology inspired swarms and systems with emergent behaviour are indicative examples for which we developed formal MAS models. Here, we aim to review our work and disseminate our findings to fellow researchers who might face similar challenges and, furthermore, to discuss important issues for advancing research on the application of membrane computing in MAS modelling.Comment: In Proceedings AMCA-POP 2010, arXiv:1008.314

Automated Game Design Learning

While general game playing is an active field of research, the learning of game design has tended to be either a secondary goal of such research or it has been solely the domain of humans. We propose a field of research, Automated Game Design Learning (AGDL), with the direct purpose of learning game designs directly through interaction with games in the mode that most people experience games: via play. We detail existing work that touches the edges of this field, describe current successful projects in AGDL and the theoretical foundations that enable them, point to promising applications enabled by AGDL, and discuss next steps for this exciting area of study. The key moves of AGDL are to use game programs as the ultimate source of truth about their own design, and to make these design properties available to other systems and avenues of inquiry.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for CIG 201

Using formal methods to support testing

Formal methods and testing are two important approaches that assist in the development of high quality software. While traditionally these approaches have been seen as rivals, in recent years a new consensus has developed in which they are seen as complementary. This article reviews the state of the art regarding ways in which the presence of a formal specification can be used to assist testing

OCaml-Flat on the Ocsigen framework

Formal Languages and Automata Theory are important and fundamental topics in Computer Science. Due to their rigorous and formal characteristics, learning these becomes demanding. An important support for the assimilation of concepts is the possibility of interactively visualizing concrete examples of these computational models, thus facilitating their understanding. There are many tools available, but most are not complete or do not fully support the interactive aspect. This project aims at the development of an interactive web tool in Portuguese to help understand, in an assisted and intuitive way, the concepts and algorithms in question, watching them work step-by-step, through typical examples pre-loaded or built by the user (an original aspect of our platform). The tool should therefore enable the creation and edition of an automaton or a regular expression, as well as execute the relevant classical algorithms such as word acceptance, model conversions, etc. Another important feature is that the tool has a clean design, in which everything is well organized and it is also extensible so that new features can be easily added later. This tool uses the Ocsigen Framework because it provides the development of complete and interactive web tools written in OCaml, a functional language with a strong type checking system and therefore perfectly suitable for a web page without errors. Ocsigen was also chosen because it allows the creation of dynamic pages with a singular clientserver system. This document introduces the development of the tool, its design aspects that enable showing different conversions and processes as well as the development of the several functionalities related to the mechanisms already presented

Proceedings of the Second Program Visualization Workshop, 2002

The Program Visualization Workshops aim to bring together researchers who design and construct program visualizations and, above all, educators who use and evaluate visualizations in their teaching. The first workshop took place in July 2000 at Porvoo, Finland. The second workshop was held in cooperation with ACM SIGCSE and took place at HornstrupCentret, Denmark in June 2002, immediately following the ITiCSE 2002 Conference in Aarhus, Denmark

Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Programming Languages and Software Tools : Kääriku, Estonia, August 23-24 1993

http://www.ester.ee/record=b1064507*es

Simulators for teaching formal languages and automata theory: a comparative survey

Formal languages and automata theory (FL&AT) are central subjects in the CS curricula which are usually diffcult both to teach and to learn. This situation has motivated the development of a number of computer simulators as educational tools which allow the student to implement and `bring to life' many topics which traditionally were studied and analyzed mathematically rather than algorithmically. This paper discusses the main features of several educational software tools currently available for teaching FL&AT. Advantages and weaknesses of different tools are analyzed and contrasted. Based in our experience, some rationales and practical considerations for the development of this kind of educational tools are proposed.Eje: Tecnología aplicada en EducaciónRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Learning by generation in computer science education

The use of generic and generative methods for the development and application of interactive educational software is a relatively unexplored area in industry and education. Advantages of generic and generative techniques are, among other things, the high degree of reusability of systems parts and the reduction of development costs. Furthermore, generative methods can be used for the development or realization of novel learning models. In this paper, we discuss such a learning model that propagates a new way of explorative learning in computer science education with the help of generators. A realization of this model represents the educational software GANIFA on the theory of generating finite automata from regular expressions. In addition to the educational system's description, we present an evaluation of this system.Facultad de Informátic