bundy%aiva.edinburgh.ac.uk@CS.UCL.AC.UK (Alan Bundy) (07/19/86)
THE CATALOGUE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS Alan Bundy The Catalogue of Artificial Intelligence Tools is a kind of mail order catalogue of AI techniques and portable software. Its purpose is to promote interaction between members of the AI community. It does this by announcing the existence of AI tools, and acting as a pointer into the literature. Thus the AI community will have access to a common, extensional definition of the field, which will: promote a common terminology, discourage the reinvention of wheels, and act as a clearing house for ideas and software. The catalogue is a reference work providing a quick guide to the AI tools available for different jobs. It is not intended to be a textbook like the Artificial Intelligence Handbook. It, intentionally, only provides a brief description of each tool, with no extended discussion of the historical origin of the tool or how it has been used in particular AI programs. The focus is on techniques abstracted from their historical origins. The original version of the catalogue, was hastily built in 1983 as part of the UK SERC-DoI, IKBS, Architecture Study. It has now been adopted by the UK Alvey Programme and is both kept as an on-line document undergoing constant revision and refinement and published as a paperback by Springer Verlag. Springer Verlag have agreed to reprint the Catalogue at frequent intervals in order to keep it up to date. The on-line and paperback versions of the catalogue meet different needs and differ in the entries they contain. In particular, the on-line version was designed to promote UK interaction and contains all the entries which we received that meet the criteria defined below. Details of how to access the on-line version are available from John Smith of the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 OQX. The paperback version was designed to serve as a reference book for the international community, and does not contain entries which are only of interest in a UK context. By `AI techniques' we mean algorithms, data (knowledge) formalisms, architectures, and methodological techniques, which can be described in a precise, clean way. The catalogue entries are intended to be non-technical and brief, but with a literature reference. The reference might not be the `classic' one. It will often be to a textbook or survey article. The border between AI and non-AI techniques is fuzzy. Since the catalogue is to promote interaction some techniques are included because they are vital parts of many AI programs, even though they did not originate in AI. By `portable AI software' we mean programming languages, shells, packages, toolkits etc, which are available for use by AI researchers outside the group of the implementor, including both commercial and non-commercial products. To obtain a copy of software, do NOT write to us or the contributor of the entry; look at the `Availability' field or write to the implementor. We hope that (s)he will supply sufficient documentation for the system to be used by an outsider, but do not expect non-commercial products to be as professionally polished as commercial ones. We have not included in the catalogue separate entries for each slight variation of a technique, programming language, etc. Neither have we always included details of how to obtain the software, nor descriptions of AI programs tied to a particular application, nor of descriptions of work in progress. The catalogue is not intended to be a dictionary of AI terminology nor to include definitions of AI problems. Entries are short (abstract length) descriptions of a technique or piece of software. They include a title, list of aliases, contributor's name, paragraph of description, information on availability and references. The contributor's name is that of the original contributor of the entry. Only occasionally is the contributor of the entry also the implementor of the software or the inventor of the technique. The `Availability' field or the reference are a better guide to the identity of the implementor or inventor. Some entries have been subsequently modified by the referees and/or editorial team, and these modifications have not always been checked with the original contributor, so (s)he should not always be held morally responsible, and should never be held legally responsible. If you would like to submit an entry for the catalogue then please fill in the attached form and send it to: Alan Bundy, Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, Tel: 44-31-225-7774 ext 242 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1HN, JANet: Bundy@UK.Ac.Edinburgh Scotland. ARPAnet: Bundy@Rutgers.Arpa CATALOGUE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS: FORMAT FOR ENTRIES Title: Alias: Abstract: <Paragraph length description of tool or technique> Contributor: <Your name> References: <Aim for the most helpful rather than the `classic' one> Availability: <e.g. commercially available with documentation and support, available as a research vehicle only with limited documentation> Environment: <necessary supporting software/hardware> From: <contact address for distribution, incl. telephone number and electronic mail address if appropriate>