Comparative study of two knowledge-based development systems: flex/Prolog and ATOME/LISP

To illustrate the approaches of the Quintus flex/Prolog system and the Nancy University blackboard-based applications generator, the authors undertake a comparison of modules of an expert system for electric transformer design, implemented on the respective development systems. After setting some typical instances in context, they present the different implementations at the levels of knowledge representation, management of control in the reasoning process, and the treatments themselves. The approaches are compared in terms of ease of knowledge modelling and structuring, control of reasoning, and capacity of treatment.