Semantic Issues in the Verification of Agent Communication Languages

This article examines the issue of developing semantics for agent communication languages. In particular, it considers the problem of giving a verifiable semantics for such languages—a semantics where conformance (or otherwise) to the semantics could be determined by an independent observer. These problems are precisely defined in an abstract formal framework. Using this framework, a number of example agent communication frameworks are defined. A discussion is then presented, of the various options open to designers of agent communication languages, with respect the problem of verifying conformance.