CIT. Journal of Computing and Information Technology, Vol. 27, No. 1, March 2019, 25–42 25 doi: 10.20532/cit.2019.1004464 Role of Agent Middleware in Teaching Distributed Systems and Agent Technologies Costin Badica1, Milan Vidaković2, Sorin Ilie1, Mirjana Ivanović3 and Jovana Vidaković3 ¹University of Craiova, Department of Computers and Information Technology; Romania ²University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Computing and Control; Serbia ³University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Mathematics and Informatics; Serbia Computer science and information communication 1. Introduction technologies are among the fastest changing areas and it is essential to follow this world-wide trend also in Computer Science (CS) and Information Com- education, constantly innovating and adapting curric- munication Technologies (ICT) curricula must ula. In this paper, we introduce the structure, meth- be under constant reevaluation and develop- odological aspects and educational experiences of ment as nowadays these two areas have been teaching two courses on distributed systems and agent rapidly changing. Therefore, it is significant to technologies at two different universities and coun- tries. The presentation is focused on the role of agent impose and suggest adequate approaches for re- middleware and multi-agent systems in teaching vari- vitalizing CS and ICT education and curricula. ous theoretical and practical aspects of these courses. Significant changes in developing modern soft- At the University of Craiova, the conclusion is that the ware have happened in the last two decades. We use of agent middleware in general and of JADE plat- are now in a world of computing, where basical- form in particular for teaching the course Distributed ly everything is distributed in the broader sense, Systems certainly brings many advantages, but also i.e. computing devices are interconnected, they has some limitations. At the University of Novi Sad, use heterogeneous software and hardware plat- within the Agent Technologies course, agent middle- forms, and they exchange information via het- ware, initially developed as part of the research proj- erogeneous network communication channels. ect, has been successfully used for educational pur- Facing this reality, technologies of distributed poses, too. For both courses, we present the structure, computing are developed and diversified with the tools, teachers' and students' experiences and joint the spread of new platforms, architectures and useful conclusions and lessons learned with regard to languages for applications that could not have courses delivery. been imagined before, like ubiquitous and per- ACM CCS (2012) Classification: Computing method- vasive computing, mobile computing, sensor ologies → Artificial intelligence → Distributed artifi- networks, high-performance computing, cloud cial intelligence → Multi-agent systems computing, or the Internet of Things. Therefore, Applied computing → Education → Interactive rigorous design, integration, and harmonization learning environments of various topics of Distributed Systems into Computing methodologies → Distributed computing CS and ICT curricula, based on the most recent methodologies → Distributed algorithms technological developments, presents a qua- si-permanent challenge taking into account the Computer systems organization → Architectures → Distributed architectures → Client-server architec- various constraints of time, resources, effort, tures and expertise of educators and students. Motivation and discussion of the structure of a Keywords: distributed software technology, multi- core Distributed Systems and Agent Technol- agent middleware, educational experience ogies courses, as well as their integration into 26 C. Badica, M. Vidaković, S. Ilie, M. Ivanović and J. Vidaković Role of Agent Middleware in Teaching Distributed Systems and Agent Technologies 27 CS and ICT curricula, are not an easy task and of the course, we also concluded that use of the where agents and agent technologies play es- able to consider issues of distribution and par- it would probably require more space than is in-house developed system would obtain easier sential role. For their future jobs in ICT compa- allelism from the programming, as well as from available in this paper. maintenance of students practical and laborato- nies, students would benefit from learning and the conceptual design of systems point of view. ry activities. At the University of Craiova, based on our 6 understanding new and challenging environ- NetLogo was proposed as an excellent platform years experience in teaching a one-semester In this context, the paper brings to the readers ments and implementations of softwares such for teaching intelligent agents within Multi- mandatory course in Distributed Network Ap- some experiences gained in teaching two sim- as Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing, Sen- Agent Systems course, in paper [6]. The authors plication Development (DNAD hereafter) to ilar courses at two universities from two coun- sor Networks, Internet of Things, High-Perfor- discussed a number of interesting features of the undergraduate CS and ICT curricula, in teach- tries, delivered by the teachers who have been mance Computing, Mobile Computing, Cloud platform and their educational value: expressive ing the various concepts of Distributed Systems, collaborating for a decade. Computing and even Collective Intelligence and rather simple programming language with we focus on the role played by multi-agent dis- [1]. Therefore, rigorous design, integration, and a small learning curve, rapid GUI creation and On one hand, we present our approach and con- harmonization of various topics of distributed tributed middleware. clusions on using agent middleware to support custom visualizations, significant features that systems and agent technologies into CS and the lectures, lab and project activities during the facilitate modeling of complex environments Our investigation is triggered by the following ICT curricula presents a permanent task requir- core question: DNAD course that was taught for 6 years to CS and agents, etc. In the first several years of their undergraduates at the University of Craiova, ing expertise adaptation of educators and stu- course delivery, the students enjoyed the course Q: Why and how can agent middleware play Romania. dents [2]. in spite of the fact that it was rather theoretically a relevant role in teaching topics of Distrib- Despite the fact that there are different courses oriented. Obviously, courses on distributed sys- uted Systems in CS and ICT curricula? On the other hand, we also elaborate on some tems and agent technologies require practical challenges and initial experiences in the de- on distributed systems and agent technologies Based on our research and educational expe- delivered at universities world-wide, there are aspects and program development. It is one of livery of elective courses on agents and multi- the significant drawbacks of these authors' ap- riences, we do believe that agent middleware agent systems, to undergraduate CS curricula at not too many papers that report on education- is relevant for teaching several theoretical and al effects and students' motivation, results and proach. But they persistently continued to teach the University of Novi Sad during a time period similar topics in their CS studies and reported practical aspects of Distributed Systems and of 3 years. achievements. It is also worth noting that multi- Agent Technologies. We will provide argu- agent approaches are rather diverse, providing in [7] about new, rather specific experiences. In ments for this statement in the paper. Some common experiences in delivering these a wider perspective on computer science meth- fact, they presented a series of modules within courses are identified and we will present our study program, that progressively address other The same core question Q inspired us at the ods, spanning various topics reaching applica- joint conclusions that could be useful for those tions, intelligent methods, new programming related topics necessary for their course. Final- University of Novi Sad to select particular agent teachers who are considering introducing top- paradigms and software technologies, possibly, ly, in the last year of study they deliver a course middleware for elective Agent Technologies ics/courses on distributed systems and agent on multi-agent systems and principles of robot- (AT hereafter) course and draw some useful technologies within CS and ICT curricula at but not necessarily, in connection with distrib- uted systems and technologies. ics. Within the course, they organized a Robot- educational and methodological conclusions. their universities. ics Challenge which gave students the opportu- At the University of Novi Sad, until recent- The paper is organized as follows. We start in There are some papers that present experiences nity to integrate gained knowledge and skills in ly, undergraduate CS and ICT curricula only in developing and using a variety of agent en- order to solve a real problem. According to the had one course in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Section 2 with a background and an overview of various sources for developing a Computer vironments. For example, [3] and [4] provide authors' report, this approach, which seems a where general AI topics were covered. Rarely an extensive overview of such environments, little bit demanding compared to our approach- such courses