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Improving the Usability of a MAS DSML

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Engineering Multi-Agent Systems (EMAS 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11375))

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Abstract

Context: A significant effort has been devoted to the design and implementation of various domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) for the software agents domain.

Problem: Language usability is often tackled in an ad-hoc way, with the collection of anecdotal evidence supporting the process. However, usability plays an important role in the productivity, learnability and, ultimately, in the adoption of a MAS DSML by agent developers.

Method: In this chapter, we discuss how the principles of The “Physics” of Notations (PoN) can be applied to improve the visual notation of a MAS DSML, called SEA_ML and evaluate the result in terms of usability.

Results: The evolved version of the language, SEA_ML++, was perceived as significantly improved in terms of icons comprehensibility, adequacy and usability, as a direct result of employing the principles of PoN. However, users were not significantly more efficient and effective with SEA_ML++, suggesting these 2 properties were not chiefly constrained by the identified shortcomings of the SEA_ML concrete syntax.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1288390

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the followings: (i) the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under grant 115E591, and (ii) Portuguese grants NOVA LINCS Research Laboratory (Grant: FCT/MCTES PEst UID/ CEC/04516/2013) and DSML4MA Project (Grant: FCT/MCTES TUBITAK/0008/2014).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NOVA LINCS, DI, FCT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Tomás Miranda, Ankica Barišić, Vasco Amaral & Miguel Goulão

  2. International Computer Institute, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

    Moharram Challenger, Baris Tekin Tezel, Omer Faruk Alaca & Geylani Kardas

  3. Department of Computer Science, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

    Baris Tekin Tezel

Authors
  1. Tomás Miranda
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  2. Moharram Challenger
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  3. Baris Tekin Tezel
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  4. Omer Faruk Alaca
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  5. Ankica Barišić
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  6. Vasco Amaral
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  7. Miguel Goulão
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  8. Geylani Kardas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geylani Kardas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Danny Weyns

  2. Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy

    Viviana Mascardi

  3. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Cesena, Forli/Cesana, Italy

    Alessandro Ricci

Appendix A. Descriptions of the Selected SEA_ML Concepts

Appendix A. Descriptions of the Selected SEA_ML Concepts

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Miranda, T. et al. (2019). Improving the Usability of a MAS DSML. In: Weyns, D., Mascardi, V., Ricci, A. (eds) Engineering Multi-Agent Systems. EMAS 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11375. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25693-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25693-7_4

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