Overview of the TACOMA project

An agent is a process that may migrate through a computer network in order to satisfy requests made by clients. Agents are an attractive way to describe network-wide computations.

The TACOMA project focuses on operating system support for agents and how agents can be used to solve problems traditionally addressed by operating systems. We have implemented a series of prototype systems to support agents. Three TACOMA versions are in public domain:

  • TACOMA Version 1.0.1 is based on UNIX and Tcl-TCP. Agents can be written in Tcl/TK. This system provides the core TACOMA abstractions, but lacks vital security features.

  • TACOMA Version 1.1 is based on UNIX and TCP. Agents can be written in Tcl/TK or in C, and support for other languages is in progress. This version also provides some vital security mechanisms. This TACOMA version has been in public domain since January 1996.

  • TACOMA Version 1.2 is based on UNIX and TCP. The system supports agents written in C, Tcl/Tk, Perl, Python, and Scheme (Elk). It is implemented in C. This TACOMA version has been in public domain since April 1996.

    We are currently focusing on heterogeneity, fault-tolerance, security and management issues. Also, several TACOMA applications are under construction. One example is a wide-area network weather monitoring system accessible over the internet, using TACOMA and Java. This distributed application is StormCast.

    The TACOMA project is a collaboration between the Department of Computer Science, University of Tromsø, Norway and the Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.

    This page is maintained by Dag Johansen and Nils Peter Sudmann.