shellreq@informatik.uni-kl.de (Bernd Bachmann DFKI) (12/12/89)
[moderator's comment: I got the following shell description in printed form: You CANNOT get any further information by mailing to the e-mail address in the "From:" line of the news header.] ****************************************************************************** NAME/VERSION: SOCIAL PRESENT STATUS: Development CONTACT: Richard M. Adler Symbiotics, Inc. 875 Main St. Cambridge, MA 02139 USA AVAILABILITY: Beta Release, Fall 1990 [INTENDED USERS]: Developers of distributed knowledge-based systems [DOMAIN/CATEGORY(IES)]: Alpha test integrates knowlege-based applications for operational support of distributed networks REPRESENTATION FORMALISMS (3 items, 6 lines): SOCIAL itself is implemented using object-oriented languages, but it can embed or integrate applications based on heterogeneous representa- tional models, including frames, rules, objects, semantic networks ... BASE LANGUAGE: Common LISP, C, proprietary object-oriented language OS/HARDWARE: Macintosh, Unix platforms (DEC, HP), IBM PC-compatibles, Lisp Machines: MS-DOS, Unix, VMS, Mac-OS, Genera [SYSTEM INTERFACES]: TCP/IP, Appletalk, Hypercard, Oracle, Sybase, MetaCourier [SHORT DESCRIPTION (15 lines)]: SOCIAL is an object-oriented tool for building distributed AI systems. SOCIAL provides a set of application building bocks, tools for manipulating those elements, and developer interfaces to those tools. Building blocks consist of intelligent "agent" skeletons that incorporate predefined models for distributed communications, control, and data access. Applications and data resources (new or existing, conventional or knowledge-based) are embedded into these agent skeletons, which overlay and interact with host software environments, computer platforms, and networks. Developers access required transparently, through high-level protocols which hide the low level mechanical complexities of distributed programming in heterogeneous, environments. Predefined data access an distributed control models (e.g. SQL, blackboards) are layered on top of an object-orinted distributed communications language called MetaCourier, which is currently available as a separate product. [COMPATIBILITY]: The purpose of SOCIAL is to integrate knowledge bases and applications on platforms that are best suited for them. [EFFICIENCY]: MetaCourier provides a high efficiency communications channel between applications, bound primarily by the performance of the network media. [NUMBER OF INSTALLATIONS]: SOCIAL elements are being delivered to NASA Kennedy Space Center. Meta Courier is currently installed at roughly half a dozen sites. [RELATED WORK]: SOCIAL is related to other tools for building distributed AI systems, most notably, ABE (Tecknowledge), MACE (USC), and AGORA (CMU). [REFERENCES (3 items)]: "A Development Framework for Distributed Artificial Intelligence," R.M. Adler, B.H. Cottman, in Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on AI Applications, Miami, FL, March 6-10, 1989, IEEE Computer Society Press "A Development Framework for Artificial Intelligence Based Distributed Operations Support Systems," R.M. Adler, B.H. Cottman, forthcoming in Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on AI for Space Applications, May 22-23, 1990, Huntsville, AL. ******************************************************************************