ALIAS v 2.0 installation guide

This file contains a short installation guide. Before you use ALIAS make sure you read, understand and accept the content of Section 5.

INDEX

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
HOW TO RUN ALIAS
AGENT KNOWLEDGE BASES
LICENCE, RESTRICTIONS AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

1. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

ALIAS v2.0 has been tested on Windows NT with Java 1.1.8 and Amzi 4.1 / 5.0. In order to use it the minimum software requirements are the Amzi dll and the ALIAS classes, both contained in the file ALIAS-20.zip Note that neither of Java and the full Amzi! Prolog+LS distribution are included in this package.

2. INSTALLATION PROCEDURE

unzip ALIAS-20.zip on a directory whose full pathname does not contain spaces or dots (let us call such directory %ALIASPath%)
make sure that Java 1.1.8 is the current java VM (to check it you could type the following DOS command: java -version)
set the ClassPath environment variable in order to include %ALIASPath%. Under WinNT, this can be done through Control Panel / System / environment
set the Path environment variable in order to include %ALIASPath%\bin

3. HOW TO RUN ALIAS

An ALIAS system is made of a blackboard and several agents. Each of these has a logic name and an address, and can run on a different machine, provided that they are connected by a TCP/IP network.

The blackboard is generated by the command java blackboard. The default blackboard name and Port number are black and 1099, but they may be set differently (e.g. java blackbard 5000 myBlackboard). The syntax is java blackboard [ <name> [ <IP Address> ] ].

An ALIAS agent is generated by the command java agentServer. There is no default for the agent name and port number, therefore they must be specified. Also, more parameters could be specified: java agentServer <name> <port>[ <blackboard port> [ <blackboard IP Address> [ <blackboard name> [ <.xpl file> ] ] ] ]. The .xpl file contains the agent knowledge base, expressed in the ALIAS 2.0 syntax (see example below) and compiled with Amzi! Prolog + LS.

Ex: java agentServer Agent0 1100 1099 babak.doc.ic.ac.uk black H:\ALIAS\20\test\esempio2\base0.xpl will generate an agent called Agent0, listening at the port 1100 on the local address, that loads the knowledge contained in file H:\ALIAS\20\test\esempio2\base0.pro and compiled in file H:\ALIAS\20\test\esempio2\base0.xpl, and will try to login to a blackboard called black, listening at the port 1099 at the address babak.doc.ic.ac.uk

If the specified blackboard is not alive the agent will start in standalone mode. It will run a local abductive proof-procedure. It will be possible to try to log in later on, once the blackboard is available.

Some examples of batch files that generate ALIAS agents are contained in the %ALIASPath%\bin directory.

4. AGENT KNOWLEDGE BASES

In ALIAS 2.0, the agent KB is constituted by an abductive program, a set of integrity constraints, and a set of abducible predicates.

The abductive program is a sequence of rules of the form rule( Head, PredicateList ). where Head is a ground predicate and PredicateList a list of ground predicates.
The integrity constraints are of the form ic( PredicateList ). Note that PredicateList must contain at least one abducible predicate.
The list of abducibles is expressed in the following form: abducibles( PredicateList ). The ordering of the clauses does not matter.

An example is the following:

rule(s,[p,r]). % standing for "s <- p, r".
rule(p,[not(q)]). % standing for "p <-not q".
rule(r,[not(b)]). % standing for "r <-not b".

ic([a,c]). % standing for "<- a, c".

abducibles([a,b,c]).

5. LICENCE, RESTRICTIONS AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

Licence and Restrictions. FREEWARE software. You are granted the right to use this software product free of charge. You are free to copy and/or distribute this software to others at your will provided that you must distribute the software in its ENTIRE package, which should only include the original archive. The software may not be circulated in any incomplete or modified form, which means you may not alter, delete, or add any files in the distribution archive. You may not lease, rent, sell, or make any profit out of the software without written permission from the author. Moreover, this software is released as a public domain freeware, which means no one shall be charged any money for the use of this software.

Disclaimer of Warranty. The use of the Software is at Licence's sole risk. The SOFTWARE and documentation are provided "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND OF FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. FURTHER MORE, THE AUTHOR DOES NOT WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE WILL BE FREE OF ERRORS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF INFORMATION, DAMAGE TO COMPUTER OR MONITOR, ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION, OR FOR COMMERCIAL LOSSES OF ANY CAUSE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED AND WARNED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

This page has been last updated on January 10, 2004

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