Agent-oriented software analysis

Agent-oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) has become an active area of research in recent years. In this paper, we look at the use of agent-oriented concepts for software analysis. Using agent-oriented analysis may offer benefits even if the system is implemented without an agent-based language or framework (e.g. using an object-oriented detailed design and language). We examine the software analysis components of a number of existing agent-oriented methodologies. We discuss the benefits that can be gained by using agent-oriented concepts, and where the concepts require further development. Based on this analysis, we present the agent-oriented methodology that we are developing, and describe an example of how it may be applied for software analysis.