From: darin@kaman.com (Darin S. Lory)
Newsgroups: fj.mail-lists.x-window
Subject: SUMMARY: CLIPS by NASA
Date: 11 Apr 92 01:40:41 GMT
Distribution: fj
Organization: Kaman Sciences Corporation - Utica, New York, USA

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 14:14:32 EDT
Message-Id: <9204101814.AA16137@lenny.kaman.com>
Reply-To: Darin S. Lory <darin@kaman.com>
Directorate: Advanced Technology
Division: Information Systems and Technology <Newly Formed>
Title: Network Analyst, Senior System Administrator
Telephone: +1.315.734.3663
Facsimile: +1.315.734.3699
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not
            reflect Kaman Sciences' policies or agreements.

This is the information about CLIPS that quite a few people have requested.

A big THANK YOU to Brian Donnell for acting so quickly on getting information
on CLIPS.

From bdonnell@nasamail.nasa.gov Fri Apr 10 13:54:30 1992

CLIPS is an expert system shell.  There is a version of CLIPS which has
an X-Windows developer's interface, but it has no abilities for providing
X access to CLIPS programs.  There is also an object-oriented language
contained within CLIPS called COOL.  CLIPS is implemented entirely in C.
You can integrate CLIPS with programs in any other language as long as their
is a way to interface with C from that language.

Brian Donnell
NASA/JSC
CLIPS Development Team


CLIPS
A Tool for the Development and Delivery of Expert Systems

CLIPS is a productive development and delivery expert system tool which
provides a complete environment for the  construction of rule and/or object
based expert systems. CLIPS is the first language to provide a verification/
validation utility for the development of expert systems. CLIPS enabled the
use of expert system  technology in the JSC Mission Control Center and is
being used by over 3,300 users throughout the public and private community
including: all NASA sites and branches of the military, numerous federal
bureaus, government contractors, 170 universities, and many companies. The
key features of CLIPS are:

- Knowledge Representation: CLIPS provides a cohesive tool for handling a wide
variety of knowledge with support for three different programming paradigms:
rule-based, object-oriented and procedural. Rule-based programming allows
knowledge to be represented as heuristics, or Rrules of thumbS, which specify
a set of actions to be performed for a given situation. Object-oriented
programming allows complex systems to be modeled as modular components (which
can be easily reused to model other systems or to create new components). The
procedural programming capabilities provided by CLIPS are similar to
capabilities found in languages such as C, Pascal, Ada, and LISP.

- Portability: CLIPS is written in C for portability and speed and has been
installed on many different computers without code changes. Computers on which
CLIPS has been tested include IBM PC compatibles, Macintosh, VAX 11/780,
Sun 3/260, and HP9000-500. CLIPS can be ported to any system which has an ANSI
compliant C compiler. CLIPS comes with all source code, approximately 40,000
lines of C, which can be modified or tailored to meet a user's specific needs.

- Integration/Extensibility: CLIPS can be embedded within procedural code,
called as a subroutine, and integrated with languages such as C, FORTRAN and
ADA. CLIPS can be easily extended by a user through the use of several
well-defined protocols.

- Interactive Development: The standard version of CLIPS provides an
interactive, text oriented development environment, including debugging aids,
on-line help, and an integrated editor. An interface providing features such
as pulldown menus, an integrated editor, and multiple windows has been
developed for the Macintosh, MS-DOS and X Window environments.

- Verification/Validation: A unique utility called CRSV aids in verification
and validation of rules by providing cross referencing of patterns, style
checking, and semantic error checking.

- Fully Documented: CLIPS comes with extensive documentation including a full
Reference Manual and a User's Guide. An Architecture Manual provides a guide
to the source code and internal operations of CLIPS.

- ADA Version: A version of CLIPS developed entirely in Ada and fully syntax
compatible with the C version of CLIPS is currently available for VAX and
UNIX workstations.

- Availability: CLIPS version 5.1 and CLIPS/Ada version 4.4 are currently
available. CLIPS is free to NASA, USAF, and their contractors for use on NASA
and USAF projects by calling the Software Technology Branch Help Desk between
the hours of 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (CST) Monday through Friday at (713) 280-2233.
Government contractors should have their contract monitor call the Software
Technology Branch Help desk to obtain CLIPS. Others may purchase CLIPS
(including all documentation) from COSMIC at a nominal fee for unlimited
copies with no royalties. Further information is available by calling COSMIC
at (404) 542-3265. An electronic bulletin board containing information
regarding CLIPS can be reached 24 hours a day at (713) 280-3896 or
(713) 280-3892. Communications information is 300, 1200, or 2400 baud,
no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit.


 
	-Darin