Expert Systems: Artificial Intelligence in Business (General Trade) [Paperback]

Paul Harmon (Author), David King (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471808245 | ISBN-13: 978-0471808244 | Publication Date: April 2, 1985

Introduces readers to the basic principles and the exciting promise of a new generation of computer programs known as knowledge or expert systems, and their associated technologies. Explains what they do, how they work, and how they will be used to increase efficiency and productivity. Knowledge systems are computer programs that can help solve problems in the same fashion as human experts. Many studies have concluded that in the course of the next 20 years, knowledge systems will revolutionize the way businesses are conducted, and this book provides a preview of how that revolution will occur.

Product Details

• Paperback: 283 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (April 2, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471808245
• ISBN-13: 978-0471808244
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,063,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Education: Earlham College (Richmond Indiana) & Columbia University (NYC)
Spent adult life working as a management consultant.

Worked for Geary Rummler in NYC then started Harmon Associates in San Francisco. Wrote newsletters for Cutter Consortium in the 80s and 90s on Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence, Object Oriented Technology and CASE. Co-founded Business Process Trends - www.bptrends.com - in 2003 and then joined with other to create the BPTrends Associates Methodology for organization and process change.

Have published a series of books on different software technologies that can be used to improve business performance.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for beginners and experts, July 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Expert Systems: Artificial Intelligence in Business (Hardcover)

I have worked with knowledge engineering for 15 years and I still find this the best introductory book about expert systems.

3.0 out of 5 stars Expert Systems as They Were, December 4, 2010

By 

John M. Ford "johnDC" (near DC, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Expert Systems: Artificial Intelligence in Business (General Trade) (Paperback)

Written by management consultant Paul Harmon and psychologist David King, this is not the typical technical introduction to an artificial intelligence topic. It covers the basic concepts of rule-based expert systems sufficiently well to prepare readers to use a simple development tool. Its strength is the added perspective on modeling expert knowledge and implementing systems in a business environment.

The book's sixteen chapters are divided into four sections. The first section introduces basic concepts and techniques of expert system development. An initial historical review focuses on the MYCIN medical diagnosis system. Readers then learn some basic principles of human problem solving. Then the focus shifts to how computer tools represent expert knowledge and use it to draw inferences from facts entered by a user.

The second section reviews AI programming languages and higher-level development tools. The historical information remains interesting and the introductory presentation of the LISP and prolog languages is still relevant. Unfortunately the comparative review of commercial tools is now badly out of date. The fourth section--I am jumping ahead--discusses expert systems in specialized domains such as medicine and equipment troubleshooting. The chapters which predict the future--Knowledge Systems in the Next Five Years and Preparing for the Knowledge Systems Revolution--are not only dated, but a little depressing to read. The revolution never came; expert systems disappeared into database business rules and the "wizards" in software help systems.

Section three, however, contains still-useful guidance about how to observe and interview a human expert and build a rule-based model of their problem-solving expertise. The example expert system models a decision about what media (book, video, etc.) to use for different training tasks. This system is just the right size--large enough to exhibit some complexity, but small enough to be understandable. It sets the stage for the authors' advice about managing larger expert system development projects.

I recommend the book for those interested in the expert systems boom of the mid-1980s and in the technology it was based on. Those wishing a more current introduction should try Peter Jackson's Introduction to Expert Systems. Giarratano and Riley's Expert Systems: Principles and Programming is a very good technical text build around the public domain CLIPS system.