The system support multiple inheritance to simply the structure of knowledge bases. Subclasses inherit attributes of super classes and changes to super classes are automatically reflected in subclasses. Attributes may be added or removed from subclasses to extend and restrict super classes. These inheritance facilities support knowledge construction and maintenance by allowing developers to expand or collapse hierarchies when updating domain objects or defining rules. Figure 1 shows the development interface for creating classes and associated attributes.
Attributes have slots for questions, value options, and explanations.
Attaching URLs to an attributes slots allows designers to utilize Web hypermedia for user questions, explanations and conclusions. Development interface for creating domain objects. Figure 2 shows the development interface for editing rules. Rules are created through an integrated rule editor where developers point and click to select attributes to form a rule's premises and conclusions. Changes to classes, attributes and values are automatically propagated to update rules.