'''Extracted and somewhat edited from  WhatIsAnAgent'''

An agent can be a person, a machine, a piece of software, or a variety of other things. The basic dictionary definition
of agent is one who acts. However, for developing IT systems, such a definition is too general: IT-related
SoftwareAgent''''''s need additional properties. Some of the properties that agents '''may possess in various combinations'''
include these PropertiesOfAgents: 

	 :	'''Autonomous''' - is capable acting without direct external intervention. It has some degree of control over its internal state and actions based on its own experiences. 

	 :	'''Interactive''' - communicates with the environment and other agents. 

	 :	'''Adaptive''' - capable of responding to other agents and/or its environment to some degree. More advanced forms of AdaptiveAgent''''''s can modify their behavior based on their experience. 

	 :	'''Sociable''' - interaction that is marked by friendliness or pleasant social relations, that is, where the agent is affable, companionable, or friendly. 

	 :	'''Mobile''' - able to transport itself from one environment to another. 

	 :	'''Proxy''' - may act on behalf of someone or something, that is, acting in the interest of, as a representative of, or for the benefit of some entity. 

	 :	'''Proactive''' - goal-oriented, purposeful. It does not simply react to the environment. 

	 :	'''Intelligent''' - state is formalized by knowledge (i.e., beliefs, goals, plans, assumptions) and interacts with other agents using symbolic language. 

	 :	'''Rational''' - able to choose an action based on internal goals and the knowledge that a particular action will bring it closer to its goals. 

	 :	'''Unpredictable''' - able to act in ways that are not fully predictable, even if all the initial conditions are known. It is capable of nondeterministic behavior. (See also EmergentBehavior) 

	 :	'''Temporally continuous''' - is a continuously running process. 

	 :	'''Credible''' - believable personality and emotional state. 

	 :	'''Transparent and accountable''' - must be transparent when required, yet must provide a log of its activities upon demand. 

	 :	'''Coordinative''' - able to perform some activity in a shared environment with other agents. Activities are often coordinated via a plans, workflows, or some other process management mechanism. 

	 :	'''Cooperative''' - able to coordinate with other agents to achieve a common purpose; nonantagonistic agents that succeed or fail together. (Collaboration is another term used synonymously with cooperation.) 

	 :	'''Competitive''' - able to coordinate with other agents except that the success of one agent implies the failure of others (the opposite of cooperative). 

	 :	'''Rugged''' - able to deal with errors and incomplete data robustly. 

	 :	'''Trustworthy''' - adheres to ThreeLawsOfRobotics and is truthful.

----
See also AdaptiveAgent.
----
CategoryAgentOriented