---
title: "A Protocol-Based Semantics for an Agent Communication Language"
authors:
  - "Jeremy Pitt"
  - "E. H. Mamdani"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1999/70"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1999/0070.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1999
pages: "486-490"
track: "Distributed AI"
keywords:
---

# A Protocol-Based Semantics for an Agent Communication Language

Jeremy Pitt, E. H. Mamdani

*Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 486-490.

## Abstract

There are fundamental limitations on using mental attitudes to formalise the semantics of an Agent Communication Language (ACL). Instead, we define a general semantic framework for an ACL in terms of protocols. We then argue that the proper role of mental attitudes is to link what an agent 'thinks' about the co ntent of a message to what it 'does' in response to re ce iving that message. We formalise this connection through normative and informative specifications and de monstrate its use in communication between two BDI-style agents.