Re: JESS: Re: calculating benefit costs

[James Owen]

Greetings: Normally I use the Girratano and Riley book when teaching either CLIPS or Jess for the simple reason that the Jess book is not quite up to date.  Neither is the CLIPS book but CLIPS itself is fairly static and doesn't change much over time making the book more in-synch.  HOWEVER, if I'm teaching Jess I would prefer to at least start with the G&R book through the first five or six chapters because they can apply to almost any rulebased system.  The, if teaching Jess, I move over to the "Jess In Action" book for more Jess-oriented details and examples. One other reason for teaching CLIPS or CLIPS/R2:  The iPhone and iPad both use Objective C making those the only two rulebased systems that I might think about using in that environment.  Even though Apple (MacIntosh) recognizes Java it never has "married" the language.  I think that is due to its NeXt heritage that came with both Common LISP and lots of tools for X-Code development; still does.  Maybe it had Franz LISP included as well - don't remember.  I really lusted for a NeXt machine, maybe it was the brushed aluminum square box, but they cost WAY more than this poor grad student had at the time. As far as other books, there is a list of some really EXCELLENT books, in order of preference, located at http://www.kbsc.com/aibooks.html - I need to update it but just haven't had the time.  Maybe next week???  Maybe...  For a really heavy read try the MYCIN book (if you can find it) that is only 850+ pages.  But only about 600 or so is rulebase stuff that is directly applicable.  The rest deals with tutorials, add-ons, etc.  I wish that they had published the entire code somewhere but, so far, I haven't found it.  MYCIN is one of the few to use probability of belief and disbelief etc. in the formation of the rules rather than straight-up boolean Yes or No.  (Yes, we have fuzzy Jess and - somewhere - fuzzy CLIPS, but this was built into the system from the beginning.)   SDG jco CoFounder DRG 2000 CoFounder October Rules Fest 2008/2009 CoFounder and Speaker (O)RF 2010/2011 On Jan 9, 2011, at 6:07 PM, Peter Lin wrote: when I first started learning JESS back in 2000, I felt the same way, but over time I've come to change my mind. In my case, it was because I really had no clue what expert systems was or what a knowledge base can do. I had to learn through trial and error the hard way to realize many of the techniques described in Gary's book are invaluable. It's just that I wasn't able to absorb those ideas and approaches until I had acquired sufficient experience. there's definitely a need for a book that applies expert system and knowledge base techniques to business problems. in my bias opinion Jess In Action is one of those rare books, but there is a lot more beyond Jess in Action. For me, it is the best place to start. Mileage will vary depending on the problem and project requirements obviously. peter On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 9:58 AM, Donald Paul Winston <satchwins...@yahoo.com> wrote: I found this book (Giarratanno & Riley) to be of very low value for my purposes. I have yet to find a decent book about rule base programming. "Jess In Action" is the only one that's been useful for me. A couple of Drools books I've read were ridiculous. Most AI and knowledge base books are 95% fluff. On Jan 9, 2011, at 9:33 AM, Peter Lin wrote: I would recommend reading books on knowledge base and expert systems to get a broader understanding of rule programming. Most of the business rule books out there are really just user manuals and don't go into details on the design patterns used in expert systems. Gary Riley's book is a great place to start. -------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users y...@address.com' in the BODY of a message to majord...@sandia.gov, NOT to the list (use your own address!) List problems? Notify owner-jess-us...@sandia.gov. -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users y...@address.com' in the BODY of a message to majord...@sandia.gov, NOT to the list (use your own address!) List problems? Notify owner-jess-us...@sandia.gov. --------------------------------------------------------------------