Analysis of a distributed hybrid MAS Approach for Information System Development.

The choice of proper technologies and frameworks – generally facing tradeoff involving costs, resources, performances and innovation – is a crucial point in Information Systems Development (ISD), necessary to make the system effective, maintainable and easy to develop. In this direction, in this paper we analyze the results achieved with the adoption of a novel Distributed Hybrid System approach blending Multi-Agent Systems programming with Object and Event Programming techniques, used to manage asynchronous events, communication between different modules, and data flows within the refactoring and the expansion of an e-learning application. In particular, we analyze architectural and technology choices with respect to benchmark aspects typically faced in ISD, including integration of research and practice, ease of installation in pre-existing environments, security, data modeling, error correction, cost, multi-tenancy requirements, and computational and memory load. The achieved results demonstrate the success of the hybridization choices for ISD and of the fruitful bridging of research and practice.