Knowledge Engineering: Unifying Knowledge Base and Database Design (Artificial Intelligence)

This book is a systematic and detailed description of a design methodology for knowledge-based systems. Such systems contain knowledge as well as information and data. The information and data can be modeled and implemented as a database, the knowledge can be implemented either in a programming language or in an expert systems shell. The methodology has two special features: It is unified, i.e., it represents the data, information, and knowledge in a homogeneous manner, as well as the relationships between them. Also, it builds a maintenance mechanism into the design. An additional benefit of the book is its thorough treatment of constraints for knowledge and for knowledge-based systems. Presenting the material in both a formal and a practical way, it is intended for practitioners as well as researchers and advanced students. This monograph describes a methodology for the design of knowledge-based systems. A knowledge-based system contains knowledge as well as information and data. The information and data in such a system can be modelled and imple­ mented as a database. The knowledge in such a system can be implemented either in a programming language or in an expert systems shell. This methodology has two distinguishing features. First, it is'unified'. A unified methodology repre­ sents the data, information and knowledge in a homogeneous manner, as well as the relationships between them. Second, the methodology builds a maintenance mechanism into the design. In knowledge engineering terms, the representation used by this methodology to model knowledge bases applies equally to databases. In database terms, the representation used by this methodology to model databases applies equally to the database rules. The unified methodology unifies the design of the'knowledge base compo­ nent'and the'database component'.'Unification'is achieved in five senses. Front Matter....Pages I-XIV Fundamentals....Pages 1-31 Non-unified design....Pages 33-56 Items....Pages 57-97 Objects....Pages 99-146 Schemas....Pages 147-175 Normalisation....Pages 177-235 Specification....Pages 237-268 Analysis....Pages 269-317 Function....Pages 319-342 Layout....Pages 343-368 Maintenance....Pages 369-390 Case study....Pages 391-448 Back Matter....Pages 449-467 Introduction Fundamentals Non-Unified Design Items Objects Schema Normalisation Specification Analysis Function Layout Maintenance Case Study References Subject Index. A monograph for specialists interested in building maintainable knowledge based systems, giving a unified methodology for the design of such systems