Introduction to SARL – Agentic Programming Language - Dr Sebastian Rodriguez & Professor John Thangarajah – RMIT University

This workshop introduces SARL, a modern agentic programming language designed to build scalable, explainable, and robust agentic systems for real-world applications. SARL is grounded in strong theoretical foundations from multi-agent systems and software engineering, yet it is designed for industrial development, integrating seamlessly with Java, modern DevOps pipelines, and existing enterprise systems.

Participants will learn how to design, implement, test, and deploy agent-based solutions for problems such as coordination, workflow automation, simulation, and decision support. Through guided, hands-on exercises, attendees will build working SARL agents that interact, reason, and adapt in dynamic environments, following best practices used in both research and industry.

All materials, code, and environments will be provided so participants can follow along on their own laptops and leave with reusable templates for building their own agentic applications.

Topics covered will include:
• SARL language fundamentals — key building blocks to create agentic systems in SARL
• Engineering agentic systems — how SARL enforces clean separation of concerns, modularity, and testability
• From theory to practice — how models of agents, interaction, and autonomy map directly into SARL programs
• Integration with industry stacks — using SARL with Java libraries, REST services, and existing software systems
• Testing and debugging agents — including SARL and testing tooling for repeatable, automated agent testing

Technical requirements:

Participants will work on their own laptops and must have a working Java 21 installation available. It is recommended (but not mandatory) that participants install the SARL development environment in advance, available from: https://www.sarl.io/

The SARL distribution includes the SARL compiler, an Eclipse-based IDE, and all required tooling for developing, running, and testing agent-based systems.

Skills: Basic familiarity with programming in Java is essential. No prior experience with multi-agent systems or SARL is required. The workshop is designed to be accessible to software engineers, data scientists, and technical leads who want to understand and apply agentic AI in production-grade systems.

Attendees must bring their own computer and be over the age of 18.

The workshop location will be provided on your registration ticket.