Systematic Introduction To Expert Systems

At present one of the main obstacles to a broader application of expert systems is the lack of a theory to tell us which problem-solving methods areavailable for a given problem class. Such a theory could lead to significant progress in the following central aims of the expert system technique: - Evaluating the technical feasibility of expert system projects: This depends on whether there is a suitable problem-solving method, and if possible a corresponding tool, for the given problem class. - Simplifying knowledge acquisition and maintenance: The problem-solving methods provide direct assistance as interpretation models in knowledge acquisition. Also, they make possible the development of problem-specific expert system tools with graphical knowledge acquisition components, which can be used even by experts without programming experience. - Making use of expert systems as a knowledge medium: The structured knowledge in expert systems can be used not only for problem solving but also for knowledge communication and tutorial purposes. With such a theory in mind, this book provides a systematic introduction to expert systems. It describes the basic knowledge representations and the present situation with regard tothe identification, realization, and integration of problem-solving methods for the main problem classes of expert systems: classification (diagnostics), construction, and simulation.

The most popular basic introduction to Expert Systems is revised and updated to include new information on blackboard systems and has extended coverage of reasoning.

A concise practical introduction to the history, characteristics, structure, operation, and use of expert systems. Provides programmers with sufficient insight and guidance to enable them to construct an expert system shell using a favorite programming language. Shows how to develp and maintain expert systems, and how to tackle technical problems unique to the field. There's also advice on how to access new applications.

SUMMARY: Introduction to essential topics concerning expert systems including expert system development, hybrid expert systems, development of generic expert systems. Disk contains demonstration version of EXSYS for student use to build on expert system.

This book is written for software engineers, software project leaders, and software managers who would like to introduce a new advanced software technology, expert systems, into their product. Expert system technology brings into programming a new dimension in which "rule of thumb" or heuristic expert knowledge is encoded in the program. In contrast to conventional procedural languages {e. g. , Fortran or C}, expert systems employ high-level programming languages {Le. , expert system shells} that enable us to capture the judgmental knowledge of experts such as geologists, doctors, lawyers, bankers, or insurance underwriters. Past expert systems have been more successfully applied in the problem areas of analysis and synthesis where the boundary of lo;nowledge is well defined and where experts are available and can be identified. Early successful applications include diagnosis systems such as MYCIN, geological systems such as PROSPECTOR, or design/configu ration systems such as XC ON. These early expert systems were mainly applicable to scientific and engineering problems, which are not theoreti cally well understood in terms of decisionmaking processes by their experts and which therefore require judgmental assessment. The more recent expert systems are being applied to sophisticated synthesis problems that involve a large number of choices, such as how the elements are to be compared. These problems normally entailed a large search space and slower speed for the expert systems designed. Examples of these systems include factory scheduling applications such as ISIS, or legal reasoning applications such as TAXMAN.

Offering an introduction to the field of expert/knowledge based systems, this text covers current and emerging trends as well as future research areas. It considers both the system shell and programming environment approaches to expert system development.