agent-prototype/README.md

an extendable agent for building multi agent systems

# agent-prototype

an extendable agent for building multi agent systems in javascript using prototypal inheritance.

## `methods`

you must provide an event emitter via the constructor which is used as a global communication bus between agents.

##### `listen(handler)`

listen for messages on the bus (event emitter), accepts a function handler.

##### `shout(message)`

send a message to the communication bus, message can be an object or string.

##### `spawn(bus)`

spawn a new agent, optionally provide a communication bus (event emitter).

## `messages`

Internally the agent uses the event emitter... with the following convention. To send a
 message from the *outside* just make sure to emit to the `message` channel and use the
 sender property to let others know who you are!

```js

bus.emit('message', {
  sender: 'custom',
  message: 'hello from example!'
})

bus.on('message', console.log) // hear *ALL* messages in the system

```

## `example`

```js

var EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter
var bus = new EventEmitter()

var agentPrototype = require('agent-prototype')

var a = new agentPrototype(bus)
var b = new agentPrototype(bus)

a.listen(console.log)
b.listen(console.log)

setInterval(function () {
  var number = Math.round(Math.random()*11)
  bus.emit('message', { message: number, sender: 'environment' })
}, 1300)

```

## `extending example`

This example shows how to add custom methods and extend the prototype.

```js

var agentPrototype = require('agent-prototype')

var EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter
var bus = new EventEmitter()

var a = new agentPrototype (bus)

agentPrototype.prototype.custom = function () {
  return Math.random()
}

a.listen(function (data) {
  console.log('.', data.message)
  if (Math.random()>0.9) a.shout('hello world! from '+a.id)
})

setInterval(function () {
  bus.emit('message', {
  	message: Math.random(),
  	sender: 'environment'
  })
  console.log('..', a.custom())
}, 120)

bus.on('message', console.log)

```

## `topics`

* actors
* multi agent systems

## `installation`

```sh
npm i agent-prototype
```