Knowledge-based systems in the AD/Cycle environment

Knowledge-based systems technology is a branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the processing of knowledge, as distinct from other branches of artificial intelligence that deal with topics such as robotics, vision systems, and speech recognition. This paper describes how, over the last decade, knowledge-based systems have evolved into a viable technology for building commercial data processing applications, and how increasing attention has been paid to incorporating these applications into commercial data processing environments. A logical conclusion of this direction is the capability to build knowledge-based applications that are full Systems Application Architecture™ (SAA™) applications. As this conclusion is approached, a requirement emerges that the knowledge-based development process be integrated with the application development environment provided by the other SAA language and service components. The integrated environment must provide high customer productivity in the development of applications that use knowledge-based technology, and must support a spectrum of development scenarios, ranging from the most basic to those involving complex applications and large development teams. This paper explores how knowledge-based products can address these requirements by integrating their development facilities with AD/Cycle™.