JAVACT : a Java middleware for mobile adaptive agents

JAVACT is a Java library for programming concurrent,distributed and mobile agent-based applications. It is currently being developped at IRIT Lab. and distributed as free software under a LGPL License.

JavAct platform is based on the actor model and open implementation principles. With JAVACT, users write high-level Java standard code without considering low-level mechanisms such as threads, synchronization, RMI, Corba... JAVACT has been designed in order to be minimal in terms of code and so maintainable at low cost, portable, and easy-to-use for Java junior programmers who know a little of actors. It does not need any preprocessing and can be used with any standard Java toolkit.

Actors are active objects which can send each other asynchronous messages, and change their behavior at runtime (non-uniform interface). Actors are autonomous entities which can be easily turned mobile without change of semantics. JavAct library provides tools for creating actors, changing their own interface, and also for distribution and mobility, static and dynamic (self-)adaptation, and (local or distant) communications. Mobility and adaptation become effective at behavior changing step; so, expressiveness and level of abstraction are not reduced, and Java weak mobility drawbacks are bypassed.

Applications run on a domain constituted by a set of places which can dynamically change. A place is a Java virtual machine (if needed, it is possible to simulate distribution by creating several places on a single physical site). The same program can be used in a local environment or in a distributed one. In the current version, resource allocation is left in charge of the JVM.

You should use the Eclipse plug-in to develop JAVACT applications. The current release is 1.2.3 (for Eclipse 3.2) and contains the current release of JavAct (1.5.3).
You can install JAVACT without the plug-in : download "JavActv153.jar" then run the command 'java -jar JavActv153.jar' (or double-click on the icon "JavActv153.jar").