Searching is an important process in most AI systems, especially in those AI production systems consisting of a global database, a set of production rules, and a control system. Because of the intractability of uninformed search procedures, the use of heuristic information is necessary in most searching processes of AI systems. This important concept of heuristic informatioD is the central topic of this book. We first use the 8-puzzle and the game tic-tac-toe (noughts and crosses) as examples to help our discussion. The 8-puzzle consists of eight numbered movable tiles set in a 3 x 3 frame....

In the two and a half years since the frrst edition of this book was published, the field of logic programming has grown rapidly. Consequently, it seemed advisable to try to expand the subject matter covered in the first edition. The new material in the second edition has a strong database flavour, which reflects my own research interests over the last three years. However, despite the fact that the second edition has about 70% more material than the first edition, many worthwhile topic!! are still missing. I can only plead that the field is now too big to expect one author to cover...

Prolog has a declarative style. A predicate definition includes both the input and output parameters, and it allows a programmer to define a desired result without being concerned about the detailed instructions of how it is to be computed. Such a declarative language offers a solution to the software crisis, because it is shorter and more concise, more powerful and understandable than present-day languages. Logic highlights novel aspects of programming, namely using the same program to compute a relation and its inverse, and supporting deductive retrieval of informa tion. This is a book...

The ability to learn is one of the most fundamental attributes of intelligent behavior. Consequently, progress in the theory and computer modeling of learn- ing processes is of great significance to fields concerned with understanding in- telligence. Such fields include cognitive science, artificial intelligence, infor- mation science, pattern recognition, psychology, education, epistemology, philosophy, and related disciplines. The recent observance of the silver anniversary of artificial intelligence has been heralded by a surge of interest in machine learning-both in building models of...

Exploration and Innovation in Design is one of the first books to present both conceptual and computational models of processes which have the potential to produce innovative results at early stages of design. Discussed here is the concept of exploration where the system, using computational processes, moves outside predefined available decisions. Sections of this volume discuss areas such as design representation and search, exploration and the emergence of new criteria, and precedent-based adaptation. In addition, the author presents the overall architecture of a design system and...

Logic grammars have found wide application both in natural language processing and in formal applications such as compiler writing. This book introduces the main concepts involving natural and formal language processing in logic programming, and discusses typical problems which the reader may encounter, proposing various methods for solving them. The basic material is presented in depth; advanced material, involving new logic grammar formalisms and applications, is presented with a view towards breadth. Major sections of the book include: grammars for formal language and linguistic research,...

The study of linguistics has been forever changed by the advent of the computer. Not only does the machine permit the processing of enormous quantities of text thereby securing a better empirical foundation for conclusions-but also, since it is a modelling device, the machine allows the implementation of theories of grammar and other kinds of language processing. Models can have very unexpected properties both good and bad-and it is only through extensive tests that the value of a model can be properly assessed. The computer revolution has been going on for many years, and its importance for...

Previous treatments of Artificial Intelligence (AI) divide the subject into its major areas of application, namely, natural language processing, automatic programming, robotics, machine vision, automatic theorem proving, intelligent data retrieval systems, etc. The major difficulty with this approach is that these application areas are now so extensive, that each could, at best, be only superficially treated in a book of this length. Instead, I have attempted here to describe fundamental AI ideas that underlie many of these applications. My organization of these ideas is not, then, based on...