HELP: a question answering system

Abstract

HELP---A Question Answering System---enables a user, sitting at a console of a time-shared computer, to obtain information based on questions typed in. This information might concern the operating system itself, the format of commands to the user interface executive program, the use of a selected subsystem, or an area totally separate from the computer. The content of the data base in HELP is completely arbitrary, and determined by the creator of each individual HELP system. Questions are presented to HELP in standard English and elicit one or more separate responses, depending upon the nature of the question. If HELP cannot generate an appropriate response, a standard "I don't know" message is output. A second system, called QAS, was developed to enable a user to conveniently generate a HELP program. This paper will discuss the structure of both programs. All of the work discussed in this paper was performed on a modified SDS 930 computer, developed at Project Genie at the University of California, Berkeley.