Languages for expert system building: a comparison

Abstract

A study of some languages which may be used for expert system building is conducted. The characteristics necessary in an expert system building language are detailed. Languages that are unable to provide for many different types of expert systems to be built are not given much weight. Six relatively standard high level languages are studied, which include FORTRAN, Modula-2, Ada**, Pascal, LISP and Prolog. Some of the newly developed expert system building languages are also studied. The study was done in conjunction with the development of the expert system known as Fess and a discussion of the reasons for the choice of its development language are given. The construction of the system has provided further insights for the language study. It is found that a best expert system building language may yet be developed. ** Ada is a trademark of the DoD (Ada Joint Program Office)