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From: forbus@ils.nwu.edu (Kenneth Forbus)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Repository of AI source code
Message-ID: <164@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu>
Date: 8 Dec 90 17:54:59 GMT
References: <11331@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Sender: news@ils.nwu.edu
Reply-To: forbus@ils.nwu.edu (Kenneth Forbus)
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
Lines: 80

AAAI is indeed sponsoring such an effort.  

There are two important purposes for such a library.  First, as a field
we have done a terrible job at record-keeping.  Programs die, due to
bit-decay (i.e., the language they are written in evolving out from
under them) and by their authors simply not keeping copies around.
The existence of Common Lisp makes bit-decay easier to prevent,  
Keeping copies around, however, should be made easier.  In other fields
not being able to easily duplicate one's experiments is considered very
shoddy.  I'm told that in psychology, for example, some journals require that
authors maintain data on which articles are based for at least X years,
where X varies with the journal.

The second purpose is communication and education.  Programs are our
main experimental apparatus, and sharing programs can help us make
progress better.  How many times have you read about some interesting
technique, and really wanted to try it on some example, but been stymied by
the effort it would take to re-implement the technique?  Having a set of
well-developed, portable, well-documented programs, with examples, would
help overcome such problems.

Clearly, these two goals conflict: Asking someone to produce a high-quality,
bullet-proof program before archiving it would simply mean that few would
archive their programs.  So, the idea is that the Program Library will
have two kinds of programs:

1. Archival systems, such as thesis programs, which are being deposited
purely for purposes of scientific replication and inspection.  

2. "Vetted" systems, which have passed the inspection of an Editorial
Board, to make sure they are adequately documented, run on the supplied
examples, are reasonably portable, etc.  Included with the system will be
reviews of it.

We are still investigating the right way to run the legalities,
so that AAAI doesn't get sued if someone misuses programs, or tries to deposit
their company's trade secrets.  The model we are looking at right now is the
Free Software Foundations Copyleft.  Access will be via anonymous ftp and
other media; details still being worked out.

While alot has been worked out, many things remain to be worked out.
Progress has been somewhat slowed by my recent move, but I hope to have
an initial version of the Library up and running by the middle of next year.
I'll be posting more details as soon as things are better worked out.  In
the meantime, I'd be happy to hear any comments, questions, or suggestions
anyone has.

	Ken Forbus
	The Institute for the Learning Sciences
	Northwestern University
	1890 Maple Avenue
	Evanston, IL, 60201, USA

P.S. Please be forewarned that my email response time varies wildly with 
my other duties, so patience may be required :-)

In article <11331@pt.cs.cmu.edu>, mnr@daisy.learning.cs.cmu.edu (Marc
Ringuette) writes:
> It would be extremely useful to have access to an archive of source code
> for common AI problems.  Such an archive could contain simple planners, 
> parsers, frame-based representations, and commonly used algorithms.  This
> would encourage sharing and discourage reinventing the wheel.
> 
> A second emphasis of such an archive could be as a research resource.  It
> could contain implementations of published work, experimental results and
> challenge problems, and domains for testing (for instance) robot agents.
> I would put a version of my Tileworld domain in such an archive, if I knew
> of one.
> 
> 
> Does such a repository exist?  If not, I'm sure the AAAI would be willing
> to sponsor such an effort.  Do you think it would be worthwhile, and if so
> do you have any ideas for additional material it should contain?
> 
> Please share your comments.
> 
> \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>  \\\ Marc Ringuette \\\ Carnegie Mellon University, Comp. Sci. Dept. \\\
>   \\\ mnr@cs.cmu.edu \\\ Pittsburgh, PA 15213.  Phone 412-268-3728(w) \\\
>    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\