An expert system for the laboratory

An expert system and a database to assist an instructor in a laboratory session are described. They were developed using Turbo Prolog version 2.0 on an IBM-AT compatible. The expert system and database can provide a vehicle for each student to query a computer for troubleshooting advice and for information on how the circuit is to function. The top-level shell of this `laboratory assistant´ allows the user to select the experiment to be queried and then a graphical representation of the circuit is shown on one side of the screen, while the user asks questions of the database or of the expert system in an adjacent window. The process is sequential, with the program asking questions of and prompting the user