Resumen
Traditional programming techniques are designed for closed environments, in which the programmer has complete knowledge of the meaning of the information and full control over the disposition of the participating activities. By contrast, in open environments, a programmer has partial knowledge of and virtually no control over the behavior of the components created by other designers and being executed by autonomous users. Although preserving the autonomy of participating components is crucial, unrestrained autonomy would be risky, because it may easily lead to undesirable consequences. Nowhere are these concerns more urgent than in manufacturing. As manufacturing becomes increasingly reliant on the dynamic formation and management of extended and overlapping virtual enterprises, agent-based, flexible approaches will play an increasing role. The approach seeks not data consistency directly, but a coherent state in the ongoing interactions of the participating components.