Applications of a generalized network-based expert system shell-artificial intelligence mini-tutorial. 1

A generalized network-based expert system shell (AGNESS), which has eighteen explanation queries that put more information at the fingertips of the user, the expert and the knowledge engineer, is presented. The system is simple enough to be used in most of today's expert system shells. Other advantages include the use of a computation network to represent expert-defined rules, the ability to handle any well-defined inference method, the increased storage efficiency that comes from sharing constructs whenever possible, and the ability to use both numeric and nonnumeric data. AGNESS' menu-driven interface has several features that make the system friendly and convenient to use. Five expert systems generated by AGNESS are described.<>