Skipper: A Prototype Expert System

In recent years, the business and industrial community has begun to take considerable interest in concepts, techniques, and systems developed by researchers in artificial intelligence. In particular, ezpert systems have been explored for application to a wide range of real-world problems. An expert system is a computer program which emulates the lines of reasoning used by a human expert to solve problems in a narrowly defined domain of expertise. For example, MYCIN[1], an expert system developed at Stanford, makes recommendations to a physician regarding the diagnosis of meningitis and related diseases. Commonly (though not universally) an expert system is able to explain its "reasoning" in terms understandable by those expected to use the system. These users may or may not be knowledgeable in the field, but they are not expected to be computer programmers.