1. A method of clustering documents in terms of similarity within a node-based, distributed computing environment, comprising the steps of: inputting a plurality of documents; preprocessing the documents by assigning values representative of attributes associated with the documents; assigning an agent (DAg) to each document, each DAg being operative to compare the values assigned to the DAg's document with the values assigned to other documents to determine whether the DAg's document should be clustered at a current node because the DAg's document is similar to documents at the current node, or whether the DAg's document should be moved and clustered with documents at another node; assigning an agent (SAg) to each node, each SAg being operative to manage resources within the computing environment as the DAgs cluster the documents at the nodes; and displaying the results of the clustering to a user through a graphical user interface (GUI).
1. A method of clustering documents in terms of similarity within a node-based, distributed computing environment, comprising the steps of: inputting a plurality of documents; preprocessing the documents by assigning values representative of attributes associated with the documents; assigning an agent (DAg) to each document, each DAg being operative to compare the values assigned to the DAg's document with the values assigned to other documents to determine whether the DAg's document should be clustered at a current node because the DAg's document is similar to documents at the current node, or whether the DAg's document should be moved and clustered with documents at another node; assigning an agent (SAg) to each node, each SAg being operative to manage resources within the computing environment as the DAgs cluster the documents at the nodes; and displaying the results of the clustering to a user through a graphical user interface (GUI). 6. The method of claim 1 , further including the steps of: issuing a move request to another node if clustering would increase by moving a document to that node; and assigning an agent (SAg) to the other node, the SAg being operative to probabilistically consider move requests in sequence.