AT and compatibles

/nternationa/

Journal

Software

of information

Nlanagement

Reviews

CRYSTAL: UFI qmT .sy.sIe~?tshe/i fiw the IBM PCtXTlAT and comptihles. Richmond: Intelligent Environments Ltd. f795 + VAT. The computer user wishing to make use of artificial intelligence techniques is faced with three broad categories of commercial software to help him achieve this: ‘raw’ programming languages (especially Al-oriented languages such as PROLOG and LISP); expert system ‘shells’; or large-scale development tools. The latter are very expensive, offering a range of techniques and forms of knowledge repreProgramming languages sentation. trade relative lack of expense and great flexibility against the need for time and expertise. Shells represent a half-way solution-less expense than hybrid tools yet less flexibility than such tools or languages. They consist of programs incorporating reasoning user-interface and techniques, knowledge-based construction facilities, lacking only specific knowledge in the form of rules (in the case of deductive systems) or example data from which rules c;Ln be aut(~matic~~lly generated (in the case of deductive systems). Running on a 2ShK machine CRYSTAL allows a knowledge base of up to SOK (IOOK for a run-time system). A number of standard interfaces are also available allowing CRYSTAL to link with Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony and dBase III, external devices such as interactive video systems. ASCII files, business generators or report graphics. Progr~~nlmers can write their own interfaces to other software. Programs written in other languages (e.g., for numerical calculation) can be called and used within CRYSTAL. CRYSTAL itself is written in C. What do you get for your money‘? As with deductive shells, you do not get any machine help in the intellectual task of explicitly codifying the expert knowledge which is to form the basis of whatever system you create.

0268-4012/87/03

(1987), 7 (171-175)

You have to provide the shell with production (IF . . THEN) rules. What you do get is a very convenient and user-friendly means of inp~ltting your rules into the system. CRYSTAL prompts you with an IF statement, and an ‘enter’ command after the first condition has been typed in will automatically bring an AND prompt. TWO presses will bring an OR prompt. ANDs and ORs can be embedded into more complex sets of conditions with ease. CRYSTAL is menu-driven throughout, and this feature makes it particularly easy to devise interfaces for obtaining iI~f~3rtnatit~n from the user for use in the reasoning process. The user can be shown a YES/NO panel along with a question, a menu of replies from which to choose, or a form to fill in. Replies can be clear cut or fuzzy. Varying degrees of certainty can be expressed in answer to a question, and if desired a sliding scale between two options can be presented to the user, whose reply is automatically converted into a numerical value. The user can at any stage request an explanation, and a trace of the current goal and its conditions is displayed. The designer can easily switch the explanation facility on and off in different parts of the system, thus making it available only for certain parts of the consultation if desired. CRYSTAL can use the knowledge base in a forwardor backwardFoward-chaining chaining way. reasons from data to conclusionsdata can be collected from the user and the most relevant conclusions drawn from them. Backward-chaining reasons from conclusions to data-a conclusion is taken as a hypothesis, and data elicited from the user in an attempt to prove the hypothesis. Uncertain data can be handled by a function which calculates Bay&an probabilities. This feature, important for some types of application, is hardly flaunted in the CRYSTAL manualone and a half pages explaining when

0171-05 $03.00 0 1987 Butterworth

& Co (Publishers)

Ltd

it might be useful, towards the end of the document, and a rather obscure explanation in the reference summary. A more lengthy treatme~~t is required to help the newcomer experiment with this facility. Data can be subjected to logical and numerical tests. M~~thern~~tic~~iand trigonometric functions include randomnumber generation and the calculation arccosine, arcsine , of logarithms. arctangent, etc. There are also a number of special purpose financial functions. CTERM, for example. calculates ‘the number of compounding periods for an investment of a present value, to grow to a future value, earning a fixed periodic interest rate’. SYD calculates ‘the sum of the years’ digits depreciation allowance of an asset for a period, given the cost, the predicted salvage value, the life of the asset, and the specific period’. TERM works out ‘the number of payment periods of an investment given the amount of each payment, the periodic interest rate, and the future value of the investment’. The ease with which production rules may be entered and subsequently edited. the ease with which user interfaces may be set up, and the many features by which data may be and reasoned about, manipul~~ted should not hide the limitations of the system. It permits only one form of knowledge representation (admittedly the most widely used)--F~r~~d~lcti~~n rules. Semantic networks, frames allowing inheritance and other forms of representing knowledge are not provided. It offers no help in producing the rules which make up the knowledge base. This is in contrast to rule induction systems, some of which are marketed well below the price of CRYSTAL, which from a set of examples of the application of an expert’s knowledge (as opposed to his or her explicit awareness and formulation of such knowledge) derive production rules. Such systems have their own limitations, but the potential buyer of

171

reviews

Software

a shell must be aware of the different

CRYSTAL

approaches

means

inherent

to building

expert systems

in different

CRYSTAL

shells.

is hardly

a

At

f7OS

system

on

can provide of

rapidly

l”‘“fessional-looking final

note

of

which to find out that you really need

those wanting

rule itlduct~ol~. or an alternative

resulting

of representing

expertise.

form

And

if you

do not need some of the many features ling of uncertain

data,

its choice

~~c~]Lijsition methods.

matical,

trigonometric

culation

facilities.

forwards

caution,

however.

to make wide use of any Run-t&c

licenses

its ability

However,

if

your

application

is the possibility

development context

times.

from

ments

Valuable

link

software.

face program

in this.

interfaces Environ-

CRYSTAL

For

may he read from

example,

produces a custo-

mized Mei~u/Hel~~ system based on the made. Two forms are availfor use when

acquired

used with

some

the

familiarity

and long form to he

the Tutorial

and for initial

USC,

reasoning

processes.

data may for further

reasoning

the

and

Manual,

Quick

results

Distributors

wart

Oxford

It

the

the most

is

I have

length

yet

text.

manual

prevent

piracy!

guide’

come

across

900

ii

word

commendation

processors

are

imported

from large and sophisticated

(but not one for my MT-W),

database

systems,

could

installation

front-

keyboard

such

experienced effective

systems,

users relatively

software

sultation.

within by

easy and

tive

Dvorak

(for example,

screen showing graphs) used

anything.

a Lotus

may be taken

CRYSTAL

a

source

(database text)

system.

to bc filed needed

and called

within

CRYS-

of

more what

by far. user

he or she wants

knowledge and

to

systems,

experienced

f~)rln~~lisrti, reasoning acquisition

expert

is too expensive the

and the

was

to pretty

the alterna-

big

in

rel~r~selitatioii processes,

calculation

text

data

facilities.

retrieval,

bibliography

that make No&

mail-

production,

the dozen or more additional

to work page

Rrr~

enough

adding to the complexity.

the Tutorial

introduction

to

Lesson 6 without

the

system, I got to

problems trying

but then

to access the

style sheets. At that point I gave up and got down to starting this document

1 think

review. with

the problem

the installation

have

indicated

styles will Help

may lie

procedure

that

office

not be used,

-

if I

document

the relevant

inforrn~lti~~t~ will not have been

transferred

to the disc.

In general, works

well.

preferred

it to be on

in the book. duction

however.

the Tutorial

although

I would disc,

a

as

have well as

It includes a brief ‘lntro-

to computers’

which the new-

comer is advised to read first, and then starts with opening entering

installation

I chose -- ;I 172

the basic elements.

ran into trouble

and

features

special.

through

covering

the

text,

movements:

graphics

introduction

using shells to create

who knows

without

load

and closing files.

and cursor m~~veinents.

Notu Bmc’s cursor

unshifted,

the arrow keys

move the cursor line by line (up and down)

Inst~lli~~ti~~nis a fairly straightforward, if lengthy,

process, taking between

and 30 minutes.

CRYSTAL

There drivers

keyboard, I decided, t think. to stick with Qwerty-

learning

tables,

merge,

I liked the logic of

any

itself.

As an exploratory

for

the

a re-

of a SNAPSHOT

means

This allows screens from

up wherever

wisely

including

a

con-

facility. software,

in

to

LillOWS

to be customized

well

Screens appearing

access.

can get

discs of printer

less

allowing

in

when

particularly

routine

that

refer-

for Nora Rene).

full

for

way to

long.

the average

buff will be raring to

Being a little more cautious,

to the com-

cunning

inf(~rnl~~ti(~ii on (not

the

pages

Even the ‘Quick

equivalent card

in

and the fact

is 65 pages

most other

two

ii5

be like

a hole

of course.

go, eager to try out snaking columns,

~~~nipr~l~~nsiv~

is some testimony as well

ence

By this time, word-processing

Pub-

would

well as being able to make use of data

to

[UK

piece of soft-

is about

plexity,

fold-out

he used to provide an intelligent

guide,

cellular

grounci!

large files

CRYSTAL

Getting to grips

dis-

Electronic

calling the Grand Canyon

Lotua.

As

York,

Five

Tutorial.

a word processor

the

may be exploited.

guide,

To call this complex

to update

of information

New

1085.

lishing].

fed back via the interface In this way, existing

2.0.

Installation

reference

manipulating

then form the raw material processes,

kettes.

Version Software.

data

intelligent

These

Bena.

system

in response to ii request

by CRYSTAL’s

172

activity the program

with the system,

with

Lotus via an inter-

generated

terms

and

At the end of this

has

of very rapid

Intelligent

which

make

then the

are the ready-made

available

is

type of know-

rel~resent~lt~~~ll. and can

reward

But

custo-

system,

printer customizing.

user

cal-

pitch,

to reason

use of its range of features,

TAL

the text-retrieval

a short form

of

type

as weil as backwards--there

suited to CRYSTAL’s

and

mizing

able:

Dragonfly

other

hyphenation,

copying,

selections

copy).

its mathe-

or financial

rules,

back-up

f2OOf) plus .fS per run-time

Note

end

to

alphabetization

will cost f2Of) each (or an annual fee of

is an increasing range of less expensive

other

expert system. A

system.

shells on the market.

ledge

a

- for cxan~ple its hand-

of CRYSTAL data

an effective

developing

menu-driven

The whole

15

process is

or character

and right);

Home

of

End

line,

a

by character

to the end.

and the

installation

centre

key (5 on the keypad)

on floppy discs or hard disc, available

ccntrt:

of a line;

and

memory,

keyboard

be

(German,

and

used

Italian

display

of

covers:

type, languages to French,

in addition print

Spanish

to English),

characteristics

on

to the

Home and

End refer to the top and bottom of the beginning and

Alt

arrow

lining),

moves.

to be used,

shifted.

page, and left and right arrows to the

screen (such things as bold and underthe style manuals

(left

takes it to the start

and end of sentences: plus

the

Home,

keys ~lcconlplish

End

other,

Ctrl and

logical

Software

The window feature was also useful in writing this review: I could set up the review in one window and work through the Tutorial in another, moving from one to another as I discovered interesting features - or failed to accomplish one thing or another. The other useful feature of Noto Benr is not seen when this review is transferred to print: its automatic hyphenation feature. I had installed this with some trepidation, fearing that it would cause more work than it would save ~ having had some experience of the oddities of other wp hyphenation algorithms. However, I can testify that this one works so well you don’t even notice it is there, and I much prefer unjustified, hyphenated lines to the terrible tedium of flush right margins.

There is, however, an awful lot to learn - even to master the basics, in which I include such things as underlining and emboldening of text. The system was on loan from Oxford Electronic Publishing for three months, but I think I would have needed to work with the system for this period to be fully familiar with it. Fortunately, the menus and Help screens are always there to be called upon, but even the Help screens can be pretty complex at times. For example, the Menu screen for the Print-Options command is shown at the bottom of the page. The way I was able to move that block of text from the Help file into this review demonstrates one of the powerful features of Nota Benr - its block definition and window system, which, together with the file operations menu allowed it all to happen. Briefly. one opens a second window (which can be full screen, or can be defined) CALLS a new file, defines the block to be transferred, using the Fl function key, toggles back to the first window, and presses the keypad minus sign, and Bingo! With a little editing to allow for the noncompatible printer, it comes out as you see it.

Style sheets, style manuals and cellular tables Having learnt all this I was stuck with the problem in Lesson 6 of the Tutorial which was supposed to teach me how to use style sheets. The menudriven process was clearly set out on the page: ‘F6 for Help’, and then ‘Layout - Style ~ Document style -

File to print (leave blank for on-screen Number

of copies

file):

to:

~ W To print entire document, leave page#‘s blank 1 W To print only single page, type that number in both “from”

I /

W Additional

ranges

printing n

Options

Select style’, at which point I was supposed to be presented with a menu screen offering various options for office documents. All I got was the message ‘File not found’, and that remained the message whichcvcr of the original discs I used. I thought I might have installed the system incorrectly so I re-installed it ~ with exactly the same result. The same problem occurred with Lesson 7 in which outlines and columns and cellular tables were introduced: the same ‘File not found’ message occurred. When I moved on to the use of Academic Style Manuals, however. I had more success - as I had expected. because I knew that the relevant files had been installed. The APA style came up as expected, but once again the dreaded ‘File not found’ message occurred when the program searched for the block indented format. At this point I called OEP and eventually received a new Master disc which seemed to cure the problem not without a bit of disc swapping, however. This drew more attention to the fact that a hard disc really is needed for a system of this complexity. The style sheets and style manuals represent another learning load, and 1

to print (I to 99): IK

Print pages from:

I / // I

~ 1 II I ~

and “to” columns. can be specified,

of broken

ranges,

enabling

as l-7 and 23-32

if only one page range selected:

to print only even-numbered

Page # calculated Top margin

(0 - by actual

(0 - output

by program

Last page ejected, from printer Pause between Press Enter

pages

of page 1 - by physical

sequence):

I ~ produced

on printer):

to implement

choices

to: to:

from:

to:

from:

to:

from:

to:

manually

Option

(odd/even)

sq

tj

PI’

(0 - no 1 - yes):

pages when typing (p to pause;

from: from:

I

I II /I o to print only odd-numbered pages I I I ~______________~~~~_____-~~______~----__~~~----~~~________~~_______~~_____ _J e

reviews

nothing

or F6 to return

to not pause):

to document

173

software

reviews

wonder if they are really worth it for anyone other than the professional writer or the office worker’? Perhaps if 1 sat down and wrote a paper according to the APA style or the Chicago Manual of Style, I might come to love the idea, but although I’m a fairly prolific writer. I don’t think I write often enough for any one journal to benefit greatly. For the academic rcsearcher, however, who is actively pushing out a paper each month to the journals in his/her field, the style manuals may be effective time-saving devices. Certainly, they work as they arc intended to, setting up controls for indenting an abstract at the head of a paper, putting headings in the right place and in the right out

footnotes

and

form.

and setting

endnotes

appropriately. In fact, thinking about it, I begin to wonder if I should have given it a more prolonged test. The cellular tables function seemed to work very well - useful when setting out a conference timetable, for example, with different sessions in different places. It is a very clever piece of software - the cells adjust autornatitally throughout a row when additions are made to any one cell in the row, and the automatic hyphenation routine also continues to function. However. when I tried to put such ;I table into this rcvicw as an cxamplc. I could

find

detailed

no instructions

manual

table

and

does

work.

for

in the very

getting

back into normal you are denied an example

out of the

Finally, calculation of four-function expressions in the text or in the command line is possible: 2.5 x 7.9 x (21.G17.X)/3.(1, 18.23076

=

Given how long one can spend searchfor a calculator when writing ;I report that demands calculations of this kind, the benefits arc obvious. ing

Text-base I w’as not able to test the text-base function of Norcr Bcrzr for lack of time (the manual has I.38 pages on the subject). The general idea is that one defines ‘entries’ which can bc indexed, either using all words in the entry or using designated keywords. If all words are indexed, an entry is limited to 1000 words or 6000 characters. whereas if keywords are used the limit is 2 million characters for ;I single entry. Thus. ;I file may be an entry, or more usually, a file will be composed of entries. The entries can bc searched for the occurrence of terms using full Boolean logic. The examples given in the manual include notes from documentary sources. annotated bibliographies, recipes and letters. Virtually anything a serious writer might need to index can be indexed in Notrr RPIW’S text-base.

text. So. ~ but it

Indexing text

Mathematical

operations

Benr can handle certain mathematical functions as well xs handling text. It allows addition and subtraction in the text area; for example, I can add S0.Y and 35.7 and then dump the sum anywhere - here. for example: X6.6. Columns of numbers can also be Notu

added: I 9x7 2 33s

Text may be indexed in two ways: by identifying words in the text and marking them for extraction, or by identifying a set of keywords in a separate file and then marking them in the text automatically. I tried only the first of thcsc and it scemcd to work effectively. However. when I tried to extract the index terms to create an index for this review. I got a ‘File not found’ message - odd, as the file was on screen and on the designated disc so, overall. not too successful.

785 3 45’) 7 073

Total:

174

15 649

Conclusion There is much more to Notu Betze than

this review, has been able to cover: such as tables of contents generation, and programming, which allow the user to write program files (macros) for commonly used functions ~ not an activity that many users are likely to get into I would have thought, but possibly of interest to the professional writer. And this really is the point of Notrr Bow: it is a tool for a professional writer, not a general purpose word processor for the average office, or for the occasional user. The word processing functions are learnt quickly enough. and some of the features are very good ~ I have already mcntioncd the hyphenation routine, for cxamplc. I Iowever, other w,ord processors are available at much lower cost which will accomplish the same result. How might it fit into an organization. then? What uses might an information manager find for it? What kind of users would seize upon it and find it just what they wanted’? Any organization in which individuals generate bodies of text in large amounts ought to evaluate it. One can think. for example, of ;I publisher with several journals produced mainly by professional journalists (trade iournnls, for example) ~ in such an organization the retrieval of paragraphs of text from previous stories might well be a common necessity. and the textbase feature could be used in this way. Similarly, laboratory notchooks and reports could be indexed in a textbase: ;I journalist working in a special field such as finance or foreign affairs could well find a similar USC; and the full-time writer would find many of Notu Rcnc’s features of use in preparing books or ,journal articles. Only individuals such as these. I suggest, or only organizations with such users, would consider the learning load acceptable. And the rclearning load would also bc ;I factor. When features arc not regularly used one must re-learn on each occasion. For example. in preparing this review. I had gaps in writing lasting several weeks ~ when I came back to the system I had to discover once again how to perform relatively simple functions: I had to relearn the system. In summary: a powerful system,

Software with many interesting and novel features, intended chiefly for professional writers, but carrying a heavy learning load for the occasional user. Would 1 continue to use it, if I could afford it? Probably not: I love the hyphenation routine and the ability to use a black on white screen very easily, but the system is rather more complex than I need a word processor to be and I do like an end-of-page line (although this

is seen in the ‘Review’ mode) and a word count, and for the money I’d have thought that a built-in spelling checker would have been provided. TDW Note: Since this review was written a special language version of Nota Bene has been announced. Six language supplements will be available: Biblical studies languages, Classical languages,

reviews

European and Slavic languages, Hebrew languages, transliterated languages, and a Complete Languages supplement which includes all the preceding. The special language version will have new features to work with multiple languages, including reverse word-wrap for Hebrew, character sets for on-screen display, and keyboard arrangements to access the languages.

175