RUNTIME EXECUTION ENVIRONMENTS

LEARNING GOALS By the end of this chapter you will be able to define a sandbox, compare containers and virtual machines, explain why process, file, and network access are treated as controlled capabilities, describe batch and parallel execution, and design graceful failure. WHERE DO THE AGENT'S ACTIONS ACTUALLY HAPPEN? In Chapter 9 you learned that the model only writes text and that the harness actually carries out actions. But carried out where? If an agent is allowed to run a computer program, that program has to run on some machine. If it runs on the same machine that holds your private files, passwords, and company data, one mistake or one malicious instruction could be a disaster. The place where the agent's actions are carried out is called the runtime execution environment. Runtime means "while the program is running," and environment means the surroundings the program can see and touch. A good runtime environment is a bit like a laboratory with a thick glass wall. The scientist can do experiments inside, but anything that goes wrong stays inside.