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Computer systems which can automatically alter aspects of their functionality or interface to suit the needs of individuals or groups of users have appeared over the years in a variety of guises. Most recently, attention has focused on intelligent interface agents, which are seen as specialised, knowledge-based systems acting on behalf of the user in some aspect of the interaction. Similar requirements for automatic adaptation have been noted in intelligent tutoring systems, natural-language systems and intelligent interfaces. The paper brings together the research which has emanated from a number of backgrounds, and provides a unifying perspective on adaptive systems in general. An architecture for adaptive systems and a methodology for their development are presented. The paper also describes software support for producing adaptive systems, and offers some experimental evidence to justify both the …