Terminological note: in the sequel we will use the term Composite System to designate a system made up of a combination of (often heterogeneous) components, called agents, acting in parallel and cooperating to achieve one or several goals assigned to the system considered as a whole. The term multiple computing system is not used because we do not assume that all agents are computer systems. In our approach these agents are specified, i.e. a precise, rigourous and declarative characterization of the goals and allowed behaviours. Some of these agents have to be designed, i.e. a society of cooperating agents with their own goals and behaviours should be proposed, that meet the goals of the society.
Section 
will first
make precise the concept of
composite system by discussing a number of paradigms underlying their
behaviour. Then Section will illustrate the use of composite
systems in different areas ranging from requirements engineering to
distributed knowledge bases.