Expert Systems?

[David Vaughan]

On Tuesday, Oct 8, 2002, at 18:02 Australia/Sydney, Richard Gaskin 
wrote:

> Alex Rice wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know of an expert system toolkit in xcard/revolution for
>> Expert Systems? I am thinking of something along the lines of a 
>> toolkit
>> like CLIPS (C) or JESS (Java).
>
> This has been an area of interest of mine for some time, but I've not 
> had
> many stuations which would appear to derive immediate benefit from such
> systems.   I say "appear" because I'm certain a lot of situations 
> probably
> could, but my lack of familiarity with AI applications outside of the
> classroom is limited.
>
> What sorts of MC/Rev apps would you see as good candidates for 
> enhancing
> with an expert system?

Not actually AI perhaps, but recently I needed to solve a problem of 
taking about 10% of the stock market and selecting and weighting a 
sub-set of that group to create a small portfolio which would (in 
principle) mimic a larger index. I might have used Solver in Excel, or 
constraint programming, but instead I wrote a genetic algorithm app in 
Rev, mainly because I felt I would be able to handle more variables 
more easily this way and it gave me a much prettier interface where 
parameters could be changed by wiggling a couple of sliders rather than 
having to enter data in cells. It was quite straightforward to do and 
surprisingly fast.

I have also looked at AI from time to time wondering where it would be 
useful in my own stuff. I worked a few years ago on a bid for a large 
expert system to determine social security benefits but this in some 
ways seemed to confirm that AI is just on a continuum from "normal" 
programming but provides tools which make it easier to handle 
complexity or uncertainty.

My $2 worth (the currency ain't what it used to be).

cheers
David
>
> -- 
>  Richard Gaskin
>  Fourth World Media Corporation
>  Custom Software and Web Development for All Major Platforms
>  Developer of WebMerge 2.0: Publish any database on any site
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