The agents approach is not just another abstract computing paradigm, but has matured during recent years into a booming research area and software engineering technology which holds great promise for the design and application of complex distributed systems. This book presents 12 revised full chapters grouped around 3 main topics in intelligent agent systems; agent architectures, formal theories of rationality and cooperation and collaboration. Among the topics addressed are software agents, BDI architectures, social commitment, believable agents and artificial life. The book is based on the Workshop on Theoretical and Practical Foundations of Intelligent Agents held at the Fourth Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Cairns, Australia, in August 1996.