Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!motcid!ahlenius
From: ahlenius@motcid.UUCP (Mark Ahlenius)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: CLIPS OR NEXPERT
Message-ID: <4601@turquoise.UUCP>
Date: 12 Sep 90 12:02:27 GMT
References: <1084@aviary.Stars.Reston.Unisys.COM> <85250@aerospace.AERO.ORG>
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL
Lines: 39

We have both Clips and Nexpert.  As far as documention goes, if you
want to understand how the inference engine works - CLIPS wins out
hands down.  Nexpert is a good rule-based system, but I strongly
believe their object-oriented features are WAY oversold. 

I have been a KEE user for several years and it is what I would
consider to be a true object-oriented tool.

Clips on the other hand is *very* much like OPS-5, except written in C.
Unfortunately I have not written any large kbs with it, so I cant speak
about its relative speed.  CLIPS is available on a very wide selection
of platforms - we even ported it to our Motorola 88k box, and it works
fine (Unix sys V.).  When you purchase CLIPS, you buy one copy ($350.00)
and you can make as many copies of the tool for use within your organization
as you please.  And there are *no* runtime charges (unlike Nexpert).
Who said nothing good ever came from NASA for the public sector?

My two bits worth are to get CLIPS and really try to use it.  Yeah,
it does not have a spiffy graphics interface, but then you are not
paying for one either.  My experience with Nexpert is that you get
very tired of the spreadsheet like rule and object editors, once
you learn their commands.

BTW, the  Lisp-like syntax of Nexpert comes from its origin.  The tool
was originally written in Lisp, and then recoded in C.

Another tool worth looking at was introduced at the AAAI-90 show. 
Pro-Kappa, by Intellicorp.  It is a C-based shell that looks 
very interesting.  It has a nice graphics interface, and it too can
be embedded.

Hope these comments help.

	'mark
-- 
===============	regards   'mark  =============================================
Mark Ahlenius 		  voice:(708)-632-5346  email: uunet!motcid!ahleniusm
Motorola Inc.		  fax:  (708)-632-2413
Arlington, Hts. IL, USA	 60004