Rule-Directed Interactive Transaction Agents

A description of computer programs, called user agents, that perform various tasks for the user. Interacting with users, these agents learn facts and store them in a database or learn data-manipulation procedures and represent them as programs. The agents are written in RITA, the Rule-directed Interactive Transaction Agent system, and are organized as sets of IF-THEN rules. Four types of RITA agents are described: (1) exemplary programming agent that "watches" user perform task, then writes program to perform the same task; (2) self-modifying agent that performs file transfer tasks, modifying itself to perform them with less help each time; (3) tutoring agent that watches demonstrations of interactive computer languages or local operating systems, then creates teaching agents for assisting new users; and (4) reactive-message creating agent that elicits text to create a reactive message, which is then sent to a recipient who interacts with it, automatically returning a response to the sender.