A knowledge-based tool for multi-agent domain engineering

Ontologies provide an unambiguous terminology that can be shared by all involved in a software development process. They can also be as generic as needed allowing its reuse and easy extension. These features turn ontologies useful for representing the knowledge of software engineering techniques and methodologies, and an appropriate abstraction mechanism for the specification of high-level reusable software artifacts like domain models, frameworks and software patterns. This work describes ONTOMADEM, a conceptualization of MADEM (“multi-agent domain engineering methodology”), a software development methodology for multi-agent domain Engineering. The ontology is used as a knowledge-based tool for capturing and representing the products of a multi-agent domain engineering process, created through the instantiation of its hierarchy of classes.