Expert systems - New approaches to computer-aided engineering

This paper provides an overview of the burgeoning new field of expert (knowledge-based) systems. This survey is tutorial in nature, intended to convey the gestalt of such systems to engineers who are newly exposed to the field. The discussion includes definitions, basic concepts, expert system architecture, descriptions of some of the programming tools and environments with which knowledge-based systems can be built, and approaches to knowledge acquisition. Some currently extant expert systems are described en passant, including a few developed for engineering purposes. Comments follow on the engineering of knowledge, as both cultural and social processes. The paper closes with an assessment of the roles that expert systems can play in engineering analysis, design, planning, and education.