Agent

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What Does Agent Mean?

An agent is a program that collects information or performs a task in the background at a particular schedule. The term agent is often thought of as a software abstraction that is capable of acting with a certain degree of autonomy to perform a particular task on behalf of its host.

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Techopedia Explains Agent

Agents can be distinguished from objects due to their autonomous, flexible behavior. Software agents offer many benefits to end users by performing complex repetitive tasks.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.