Expert System Shells

Expert System Shells

An Expert system shell is a software development environment. It contains the basic components of expert systems. A shell is associated with a prescribed method for building applications by configuring and instantiating these components.

 Shell components and description

The generic components of a shell : the knowledge acquisition, the knowledge Base, the reasoning, the explanation and the user interface are shown below. The knowledge base and reasoning engine are the core components.

All these components are described in the next slide.

■ Knowledge Base

A store of factual and heuristic knowledge. Expert system tool provides one or more knowledge representation schemes for expressing knowledge about the application domain. Some tools use both Frames (objects) and IF-THEN rules. In PROLOG the knowledge is represented as logical statements.

■ Reasoning Engine

Inference mechanisms for manipulating the symbolic information and knowledge in the knowledge base form a line of reasoning in solving a problem. The inference mechanism can range from simple modus ponens backward chaining of IF-THEN rules to Case-Based reasoning.

Knowledge Acquisition subsystem

A subsystem to help experts in build knowledge bases. However, collecting knowledge, needed to solve problems and build the knowledge base, is the biggest bottleneck in building expert systems.

Explanation subsystem

A subsystem that explains the system's actions. The explanation can range from how the final or intermediate solutions were arrived at justifying the need for additional data.

User Interface

A means of communication with the user. The user interface is generally not a part of the expert system technology. It was not given much attention in the past. However, the user interface can make a critical difference in the pe eived utility of an Expert system.