The agent lifecycle is the set of functions in the agent which are called at different times by Hive. These methods are called so that the agent can take appropriate actions at varioius points in its life.
An agent's lifecycle is the sequence in which certain methods are called on it. The agent lifecycle methods are analagous to the applet methods start(), init(), and stop(). The agent lifecycle methods are called by Hive to ask the agent to initialize itself, to start itself, to prepare to move or be killed, and to shut down.