KQML & FLBC: contrasting agent Communication languages

Communication languages for agents and otherwise have been designed to minimize the size of the mes-sage and to function more as a data-passing protocol. Little emphasis has been placed on the °exibility of the language or the transparency of the message’s meaning. The author analyzes the recently deflned formal semantics of KQML, which is used as the ex-emplar of agent communication languages. Based on this, he then specifles an FLBC message whose efiects would be more or less equivalent. The purpose of this is to compare standard agent based languages (KQML in this case) with one that more directly represents the meaning of the message. The results indicate that the latter type of language makes message composi-tion more powerful, message decomposition feasible, and has the by-product of instantly deflning many more possibly useful messages.