Softwareagenter

Softwareagenter is not a widely standardized term in computer science. It may be used to describe software agents, autonomous programs that act on behalf of a user or another system, or it may appear as a brand or product name in some vendor documentation. In general, most discussions distinguish the concept as software agent rather than the concatenated term.

A software agent is a computer program that perceives its environment through sensors, maintains goals, and takes actions to achieve those goals with varying levels of autonomy. Agents can operate with little or no human intervention and may interact with other agents to complete tasks. Key properties typically include autonomy, reactivity to changes, proactivity in pursuing goals, and sometimes learning or adaptation over time. Social ability, or the capacity to communicate and negotiate with other agents, is common in multi-agent systems.

Agents are often categorized as reactive agents, which respond to immediate stimuli, deliberative or goal-directed agents, which plan toward objectives, and learning agents, which improve their behavior based on experience. When multiple agents coordinate, they form a multi-agent system (MAS) that can handle complex tasks such as distributed problem solving, data integration, or workflow automation.

Applications of software agents include enterprise process automation, data extraction and integration, service orchestration, web crawling, monitoring, virtual assistants, and smart-device coordination. Frameworks and standards such as JADE (Java Agent Development Framework) and FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) provide tools and guidelines for building interoperable agent-based systems.

Notes: the exact usage of the term softwareagenter may vary by context. If encountered, consult the source to determine whether it refers to a generic software agent, a specific product, or a proprietary implementation.