Computer-based critics

The authors describe computer-based critics and articulate some of the general principles learned from their system-building experience. They propose a general framework for critics, present specific requirements, and describe two prototypical critic systems: LISP-CRITIC, which criticizes Lisp programs, and CRACK, a system that assists the user in designing a kitchen. The authors illustrate the generalized main components of the critic systems and discuss their evaluation. It is concluded that computer-based critics incorporate many powerful ideas from human-computer communications and artificial intelligence into a system that makes use of the best aspects of human and computational cognition. They have the potential to provide a symbiotic relationship between a user and a knowledge-based system. The results should be applicable to the entire class of cooperative problem-solving systems