Exact: a model-based knowledge acquisition tool for selection tasks

A discussion is presented of EXACT (expert system acquisition tool), a model-based knowledge acquisition tool. EXACT supports knowledge engineers in structuring and maintaining the domain knowledge needed to execute a particular selection task. The following principles have guided the development of EXACT: knowledge acquisition tools are useful for knowledge engineers rather than domain experts; the dialogue between such a tool and the user should be one of mixed initiative; the output of the tool should be an implementation-independent knowledge document; it should be easy to add more functionality to the tool gradually. In order to be able to develop EXACT, a model of the selection task has been made. EXACT has been implemented in the object-oriented language Smalltalk/V.<
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