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Common LISP modules: Artificial intelligence in the area of neural networks and chaos theory
280
BOOK REVIEWS
U.S.A.) on p. 833: "The myth of well-structured systems for conventional software and of poorly structured systems for AI software just is not very accurate. Almost all complex software problems are poorly defined and ill-structured at the beginning. The development process is what provides definition and structure to the problems, not the languages or implementation a p p r o a c h . . . " Perhaps this remark is debatable, but it can be one of the starting points in discussions about the identity, role, and future of the Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. L. SIKLOSSY
and well-organized. The statements of fact are accurate, and the conclusions are convincing. The style is concise and readable. Generally speaking, the presentation is good, except for some individual errors, which do not, however, obscure the meaning. The graphs, figures and formulae are clear and accurate. Useful reference sources are provided for readers wishing to pursue the subject further. Although the list is limited and covers a fairly narrow scope, the references quoted are up-to-date. The science of artificial intelligence is in the ascendance. Practitioners in the domain will benefit from reading this book, which the reviewers are happy to recommend.
Universit~ de Savoie, Le Bourget-du-Lac J. TEPANDI
SU SHI-QUAN, WANG WEN-HUE and WANG XING-YUAN
Tallinn Technical University
Northeast University of Technology, Shenyang
Common LISP Modules: Artificial Intelligence in the Area of Neural Networks and Chaos Theory, by M. WATSON. Springer, Berlin (1991). 207pp., DM 58.00 (paperback), ISBN 3-540-97614-0.
Intelligent Design and Manufacturing, edited by A N D R E W KUSIAK. Wiley, New York (1992). 753 pp., £79.00, ISBN 0-471-53473-0.
The book, "Common LISP Modules", as its list of contents indicates, is chiefly meant for graduate and postgraduate students, as well as other workers specializing in the use of artificial intelligence in science and engineering. It aims also to promote applications of artificial intelligence. The book is made up of six parts, which are centred on artificial neural networks, naturallanguage processing, expert systems and chaos theory. The section dealing with artificial neural networks covers pattern recognition, speech recognition, recognition of hand-written characters, and adaptive neural networks. Related LISP programs are presented. The section on natural-language processing deals in detail with natural-language representation by LISP data structures and LISP code, and natural-language interfaces to a library database. In the expert-system section, forward-chaining and backward-chaining system interpreters, and the techniques for their execution, are introduced. Following that, heuristic network search algorithms and a chessplaying program are given. In the last section, the concepts of chaos theory and fractal images are briefly introduced. In each case, the radical theorems are introduced first. Then some examples of specific applications are given, new technologies are introduced, and LISP reusable software is provided. The strict configuration, concise contents and choice of suitable material present programming techniques which are useful in both AI projects and more-conventional software engineering endeavours. Unlike some other books available in this field of study, the book has some very positive characteristics. The material is well-selected
There is no general, broadly accepted methodology for modern computer-assisted treatment of engineering design and manufacturing problems. Therefore, any serious attempt to address these issues must be welcomed by the community of researchers dealing with the fundamentals of these disciplines. Being such an attempt, the book under review certainly deserves credit as a very useful source of information for anybody interested in the field. On the other hand, it seems virtually impossible to produce a single book encompassing the whole subject in a relatively complete and uniformly competent way. It is thus natural that among many contributions in the book not all of them seem to have a lasting value or even deserve a place in a volume which is that ambitious. In a brief review of the book's content we shall concentrate on those contributions which, in the reviewer's opinion, may attract the most readers and form a valuable reference source. The material included in the book has been divided into six parts. The seven chapters included in Part I introduce the reader to the contemporary topics in design of products and components. Among them, those on Engineering design methodologies, Features in design and manufacturing, and Integration of expert systems, databases and computer-aided design seem to be the most instructive. The seven chapters grouped in Part II cover topics related to the design of manufacturing systems. We would like to mention specifically the articles on Selection of manufacturing equipment for flexible production systems, Group technology, Design of machining systems, Design of assembly systems and Design of manufacturing control systems. The six chapters in Part III emphasize operational aspects of
BOOK REVIEWS
U.S.A.) on p. 833: "The myth of well-structured systems for conventional software and of poorly structured systems for AI software just is not very accurate. Almost all complex software problems are poorly defined and ill-structured at the beginning. The development process is what provides definition and structure to the problems, not the languages or implementation a p p r o a c h . . . " Perhaps this remark is debatable, but it can be one of the starting points in discussions about the identity, role, and future of the Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. L. SIKLOSSY
and well-organized. The statements of fact are accurate, and the conclusions are convincing. The style is concise and readable. Generally speaking, the presentation is good, except for some individual errors, which do not, however, obscure the meaning. The graphs, figures and formulae are clear and accurate. Useful reference sources are provided for readers wishing to pursue the subject further. Although the list is limited and covers a fairly narrow scope, the references quoted are up-to-date. The science of artificial intelligence is in the ascendance. Practitioners in the domain will benefit from reading this book, which the reviewers are happy to recommend.
Universit~ de Savoie, Le Bourget-du-Lac J. TEPANDI
SU SHI-QUAN, WANG WEN-HUE and WANG XING-YUAN
Tallinn Technical University
Northeast University of Technology, Shenyang
Common LISP Modules: Artificial Intelligence in the Area of Neural Networks and Chaos Theory, by M. WATSON. Springer, Berlin (1991). 207pp., DM 58.00 (paperback), ISBN 3-540-97614-0.
Intelligent Design and Manufacturing, edited by A N D R E W KUSIAK. Wiley, New York (1992). 753 pp., £79.00, ISBN 0-471-53473-0.
The book, "Common LISP Modules", as its list of contents indicates, is chiefly meant for graduate and postgraduate students, as well as other workers specializing in the use of artificial intelligence in science and engineering. It aims also to promote applications of artificial intelligence. The book is made up of six parts, which are centred on artificial neural networks, naturallanguage processing, expert systems and chaos theory. The section dealing with artificial neural networks covers pattern recognition, speech recognition, recognition of hand-written characters, and adaptive neural networks. Related LISP programs are presented. The section on natural-language processing deals in detail with natural-language representation by LISP data structures and LISP code, and natural-language interfaces to a library database. In the expert-system section, forward-chaining and backward-chaining system interpreters, and the techniques for their execution, are introduced. Following that, heuristic network search algorithms and a chessplaying program are given. In the last section, the concepts of chaos theory and fractal images are briefly introduced. In each case, the radical theorems are introduced first. Then some examples of specific applications are given, new technologies are introduced, and LISP reusable software is provided. The strict configuration, concise contents and choice of suitable material present programming techniques which are useful in both AI projects and more-conventional software engineering endeavours. Unlike some other books available in this field of study, the book has some very positive characteristics. The material is well-selected
There is no general, broadly accepted methodology for modern computer-assisted treatment of engineering design and manufacturing problems. Therefore, any serious attempt to address these issues must be welcomed by the community of researchers dealing with the fundamentals of these disciplines. Being such an attempt, the book under review certainly deserves credit as a very useful source of information for anybody interested in the field. On the other hand, it seems virtually impossible to produce a single book encompassing the whole subject in a relatively complete and uniformly competent way. It is thus natural that among many contributions in the book not all of them seem to have a lasting value or even deserve a place in a volume which is that ambitious. In a brief review of the book's content we shall concentrate on those contributions which, in the reviewer's opinion, may attract the most readers and form a valuable reference source. The material included in the book has been divided into six parts. The seven chapters included in Part I introduce the reader to the contemporary topics in design of products and components. Among them, those on Engineering design methodologies, Features in design and manufacturing, and Integration of expert systems, databases and computer-aided design seem to be the most instructive. The seven chapters grouped in Part II cover topics related to the design of manufacturing systems. We would like to mention specifically the articles on Selection of manufacturing equipment for flexible production systems, Group technology, Design of machining systems, Design of assembly systems and Design of manufacturing control systems. The six chapters in Part III emphasize operational aspects of