This book is designed to address the needs of those who wish to understand and appreciate the fundamentals of rule-based expert systems and to apply successfully this methodology to real-life problems.
The book specifically emphasizes the role the knowledge engineer plays in acquiring and representing expert knowledge. It also stresses that the knowledge base model is the heart and soul of an expert system. Other topics include discussions of:
- When and when not to use expert systems
- Inference
- Uncertainty
- Validation
- Hybrid expert systems
- Implementation and maintenance
- Staffing and training
The approach that has been taken is generic, although many examples from business. Engineering and the social are presented
To provide the reader with a vehicle for actually building and testing rule-based expert systems the book also contains a demonstration version of EXSYS a rule-based expert systems shell. This software consists of a single 5 inch deskette intended for use on an IBM PC or compatible and a hard disk drive. The disk provides several demonstration expert system a series of on-screen tutorials that serve to describe how to create expert systems and the means for actually developing and running ones own expert system. Implementation is made considerably easier by means of the menu-based format employed by EXSYS but the book does not rely or focus on EXSYS or any other single expert system development package. Consequently any rule-based expert system shell may be used to augment the book.
1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Past, Present, and Future Expert System
4. Knowledge Representation
5. Knowledge Acquisition
6. The Inference Engine
7. Enhancements
8. Validation
9. Hybrid Expert Systems
10. Alternative Development Modes
,etc.