Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!uunet!bcstec!dahl
From: dahl@bcstec.UUCP (Mark Dahl)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Expert System Documentation
Summary: Hypertext and maintenance documentation for expert systems
Keywords: Hypertext, Expert Systems, Documentation
Message-ID: <426@bcstec.UUCP>
Date: 17 Aug 90 03:30:09 GMT
References: <1990Aug10.124331.9222@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle
Lines: 59

In article <1990Aug10.124331.9222@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>, rich@artada.lerc.nasa.gov (Richard S.) writes:
> As everyone is well aware, one of the biggest problems associated with
> any computer program, including expert systems, is how should they be 
> documented.
> 
> I am currently working on one method of documentation which includes using 
> a hypertext software package (GUIDE 3, by Owl International), for my current 
> expert system.  
> 
> I have a few ideas of the kind of information, should be included.
> I would like to hear from others, who have developed expert systems... 

I'm looking into using Hypertext as part of an overall 
maintenance environment for a large set of expert systems.

The hope is that hypertext can informally represent maintenance-related 
knowledge useful to human readers.  This information can be layered on 
top of existing rule-based systems without affecting validated "source
code". If hypertext nodes & links can be typed (or at least labelled), 
the "hyperbase" can later be formally merged with the rules to create 
a frame-base or semantic net, providing a platform for smarter 
knowledge acquisition, testing, and maintenance tools.

Unfortunately, many commercial hypertext tools only provide untyped 
links and nodes that only form vague associations.  I seen a little
of GUIDE.  It seems limited in expressiveness but maybe you
can make up the difference with its programming language (?)

As for as the kinds of information to include, our focus is on
traceability to original knowledge sources.  The other major area 
is documenting implicit knowledge useful during maintenance.  
Of course, what to include depends on how rich your knowledge 
representation is to begin with.  For instance, many rule-based 
expert systems only provide attributes and values.  The entities, 
relationships, classes, prototypes, etc. are nowhere to be found!

The goal should be to generate documentation from expert systems.

Other issues worth considering are versioning and support for 
collaborative work.  A few references that might be useful 
in evaluating hypertext products are:

"Shadow, fusing Hypertext with AI", by Patricia Carando,
in IEEE Expert, Winter 1989.

"Reflections on Notecards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation
of Hypermedia Systems", by Frank G. Halasz, in CACM, July 1988.

"Hypertext: An Introduction and Survey", by Jeff Conklin, in 
IEEE Computer, September 1987.
---    
	Mark Dahl       Boeing Computer Services      Renton, Washington
			Scientific Data Systems - AI Specialist 
	                e-mail: dahl@bcstec.boeing.com
-- 
	Mark Dahl       Boeing Computer Services      Renton, Washington
			Scientific Data Systems - AI Specialist 
	dahl@bcstec.boeing.com
	...!uunet!bcstec!dahl