Perspectives on Artificial Inteffigence Programming

Short Description
Artificial Intelligence Programming. DANIEL. G. BOBROW. AND. Miu Programs are judged not only by whether they faithfully …

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Content
Reprint Series
28 February 1986, Volume 231, pp. 951-957
Perspectives on
Artificial Inteffigence Programming
DANIEL G. BOBROWAND MARK J. STEFIK
Copyright . 1986 by the American Association for the Advancement of SciencePerspectives on
Artificial Intelligence Programming
DANIEL G. BOBROW AND M~iu Programs are judged not only by whether they faithfully
carry out the intended processing but also by whether
they are understandable and easily changed. Programming
systems for artificial inteffigence applications use
specialized languages, environments, and knowledgebased
tools to reduce the complexity of the programming
task. Language styles based on procedures, objects, logic,
rules, and constraints reflect different models for organizing
programsand facilitate program evolution and understandability.
To make progranmiing easier, multiple
styles can be integrated as sublanguages in a programming
environment. Programming environments provide
tools that analyze programs and create informative displays
of their structure. Programs can be modified by
direct interaction with these displays. These tools and
languages are helping computer scientists to regain a
sense of control over systems that have become increasingly
complex.
PEOPLE WHO DEVELOP PROGRAMMING SYSTEMS NEED TO
organize them in ways that make them comprehensible to
other people and easy to modify. We will be concerned
mainly with the practice of artificial intelligence (Al) programming
and about the arguments and tensions that haveshaped the current
state of the art. An intelligent system should embody and apply
information about itself...