Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA (09/21/84)
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
The September issue of IEEE Computer is devoted to AI systems, with
emphasis on the man-machine interface. It's well worth reading.
Frederick Hayes-Roth's article seems to be an excellent introduction
to knowledge engineering. (The title is "The Knowledge-Based Expert
System: A Tutorial," but it is not really an expert-systems overview.)
The article by Elaine Rich on natural-language interfaces is also
excellent. There are other articles on smart databases, tutoring
systems, job-shop control, and decision support systems.
There is also an article on a declarative parameter-specification
system for Schlumberger's Crystal system. I found the article hard
to follow, and I have strong doubts about the desirability of building
a domain-independent parameter parser, then using procedural attachment
in the parameter declarations to hack in runtime dependencies and
domain-specific intelligent behavior. Even if this is to be done,
the base program should have the option of requesting parameters only
as (and if) they are needed, and should be able to create or alter the
declarative structures dynamically at the time the parameters are
requested. Given such a system, the declarative structures are simple
a convenient way of passing control options to the user-query
subroutine. Most of the procedual knowledge belong in the procedural
code, not in declarative structures in a separate knowledge base.
-- Ken Laws