Treffer: Set-Oriented Constructs for Rule-Based Systems

Set-oriented constructs for forward chaining rule-based systems are presented in this paper. These constructs allow arbitrary amounts of data to be matched and changed within the execution of a single rule. Second order tests on the data can be included in the match. The ability of a single rule to directly access all of the data to be manipulated eliminates the need for unwieldy control mechanisms and marking schemes. Adding this expressivity to rule-based languages enhances their value to expert system developers and their capabilities as database programming languages. Additionally, these set-oriented constructs can provide a basis for more efficient implementations of rule-based systems, for both the traditional memory-based systems and the emerging disk-based ones. The work described has been implemented using an extended version of the Rete network algorithm. AI Topic: Knowledge Representation, Rule-based systems. Language/Tool: OPS5. Effort: Proprietary Information. Impact: Set-oriented constructs in rule-based languages will enable fast prototyping of expert systems and provide new directions for integrating rule-based systems and database systems. 1.