Nebula 1994 June/NEBULA_SE.ISO/Documents/FAQ/AI-faq/part6

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Subject: FAQ: Expert System Shells 6/6 [Monthly posting]
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;;; ****************************************************************
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;;; Written by Mark Kantrowitz
;;; ai-faq-6.text -- 28616 bytes

This post contains Part 6 of the AI FAQ. It is cross-posted to the
newsgroup comp.ai.shells because it contains material of interest to
readers of that newsgroup. The other parts of the AI FAQ are posted only
to the newsgroups comp.ai and news.answers.

CONTRIBUTIONS to this summary should be sent to [e-mail].
Companies wishing to expand their entries should send product
summaries no longer than the RTworks or CLIPs entries, and should
focus on features and facts. Hype and vague generalizations will be removed.

Part 6 (Expert System Shells):
  [6-1]  Introduction and Acknowledgements
  [6-2]  Other Sources of Information
  [6-3]  Free/Cheap Expert System Shells
  [6-4]  Commercial Expert System Shells

Search for [#] to get to question number # quickly.

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Subject: [6-1]  Introduction and Acknowledgements

This is a list of commercial expert system shells and companies
originally based on posts by Jason Trenouth <[e-mail]>,
George Betzos <[e-mail]>, and Foxvog Douglas
<[e-mail]>, as well as parts of the commercial products
section of the AI FAQ.  Thanks also to Arnold Bloemer
<[e-mail]>, Hans Voss, Stephan Weber, Tom Laffey,
[e-mail], Hal Waters, Philip Vanneste, Daniel Corkill, Bruce
Chih-Lung Lin, Willem Van Dyk, Kan-Lee Liou, Les Degroff, Alex Kean,
Bob Orchard, Steve Witt, Cameron Laird, Thomas A. Russ, Peter Pavek,
Ingemar Hulthage, Jerry Franke, Julian Smart, Andrew Verden, Remi
Lissajoux, Patrick Albert, Patrick Suel, Liz Allen. Thanks to Richard
Fozzard for information about MIKE and ES.

Many "real-time" expert systems are 'soft' real-time systems, in that
they claim to be fast. A 'hard' real-time system would have features
that guarantee a response within a fixed amount of real-time (e.g.,
bounded computation, not just a fast match-recognize-act cycle).
Systems like G2 use event-driven processing (restricting certain rules
to execute only when specific WM elements change in a particular way)
as a method of limiting forward chaining.

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Subject: [6-2]  Other Sources of Information

In addition to the free expert system shells listed below, the Prolog
Resource Guide lists a variety of Prolog implementations and products.
In addition to being backward-chaining systems, many prolog
implementations provide support for forward-chaining rules and other
expert systems requirements. For example, Amziod sells
Dennis Merritt's book, "Building Expert Systems in Prolog",
Springer-Verlag, 1989, for $47 (with disk containing source code for $82).

The July/August 1992 issue of PC AI magazine includes their annual
product guide for expert systems and related tools.  The December 1992
issue of AI Expert Magazine, pages 42-49, contains an Expert System
Resource Guide. The February 1991 issue of IEEE Computer has an
article about Expert System Tools. Another article of possible
interest is "Selection Criteria for Expert System Shells: A
Socio-Technical Framework", by Anthony C. Stylianou, Gregory R. Madey,
and Robert D.  Smith, CACM 35(10):30-48, October 1992.

Part 3 of the AI FAQ lists several key references on expert systems.

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Subject: [6-3] Free/Cheap Expert System Shells

FOCL      -- ics.uci.edu:pub/SaranWrap/{README,KR-FOCL-ES.cpt.hqx}
      Contact: [e-mail]
      Expert System Shell and Machine Learning Program;
      Extends Quinlan's FOIL.

SOAR      -- ftp.cs.cmu.edu:
          /afs/cs.cmu.edu/project/soar/public/Soar5/ -- Lisp Version
          /afs/cs.cmu.edu/project/soar/public/Soar6/ -- C Version
        Contact: [e-mail]
        Integrated Agent Architecture. Supports learning through chunking.

OPS5      -- ftp.cs.cmu.edu:user/ai/software/expert-systems/ops5.tar.Z

BABYLON-- gmdzi.gmd.de:gmd/ai-research/Software/ (129.26.8.90)
      (BinHexed stuffit archive of Babylon)
      Development environment for expert systems.

CLIPS 6.0 is an OPS-like forward chaining production system written in
ANSI C by NASA. The CLIPS inference engine includes truth maintenance,
dynamic rule addition, and customizable conflict resolution strategies.
CLIPS, including the runtime version, is easily embeddable in other
applications. CLIPS now includes an object-oriented language called COOL.
CLIPS runs on IBM PC compatibles (including Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS 386
versions), Macintosh, VAX 11/780, Sun 3/260, and HP9000/500.  CLIPS is
available from COSMIC at a nominal fee for unlimited copies with no
royalties. (CLIPS is available free to NASA, USAF, and their contractors
for use on NASA and USAF projects.) For more information, email
[e-mail], write COSMIC, University of Georgia, 382
East Broad Street, Athens, GA 30602, call 706-542-3265, or fax
706-542-4807. To subscribe to the CLIPS mailing list, send a message to
the list server [e-mail] (128.192.14.4) with
message body SUBSCRIBE CLIPS-LIST. An electronic bulletin board
containing information regarding CLIPS can be reached 24 hours a day at
713-280-5375 or 713-280-7552. Communications information is 300, 1200, or
2400 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. The CLIPS help desk
phone number is 713-280-8919 and email address is
[e-mail]. (The address is STB Products Help Desk,
LinCom Corporation, 1020 Bay Area Boulevard, #200, Houston, TX
77058-2628.) The book "Expert Systems: Principles and Programming" by
Joseph Girrantano and Garey Riley comes with an MS-DOS CLIPS 4.2
interpreter.

MIKE and ES:
   The October/November 1990 issue of BYTE described two expert systems
   named MIKE and ES. MIKE is a frame-based system built in an included
   public domain Prolog for IBM-PCs. ES supports backward/forward
   chaining, fuzzy set relations, and explanation, and is a standalone
   executable for IBM-PCs. They are available by anonymous ftp from
   ftp.uu.net:/pub/ai/expert-sys/ [192.48.96.9] as mike/mike1.tar.Z,
   mike/mike2.tar.Z and summers.tar.Z. ftp.uu.net is mirrored on
   unix.hensa.ac.uk [129.12.21.7] under /pub/uunet/.

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Subject: [6-4] Commercial Expert System Shells

The commercial products below are listed in alphabetical order.

1ST-CLASS, 1ST-CLASS FUSION, and 1ST-CLASS HT run on personal
computers. For more information, write to 1st-Class Expert Systems,
Inc., 526 Boston Post Road, Suite 150, Wayland, MA 01778 or call
800-872-8812 (508-358-7722). See PC Tech Journal 7(4):111, April, 1989
and PC Week 6(20):23, May 22, 1989.

ACTIVATION FRAMEWORK runs on personal computers and costs $5000.  This
tool is not a tradition expert system shell, rather is a tool for
building real-time data interpretation applications.  The vendor
claims the tool competes with Gensym's G2 in terms of application
domains.  However, G2 is not a tool for end users, but rather for C
and/or Ada software developers. For more information, write to The
Real-Time Intelligent Systems Corporation, 26 Worthen Street,
Chelmsford, MA 01824, or call 508-250-4633.

Aion Development System (ADS) runs on numerous platforms, including
DOS, OS/2, SunOS, Microsoft Windows, and VMS.  It includes an object
oriented knowledge representation, forward, backward, bidirectional,
and pattern matching rules, graphics, calls to/from other languages
(C, Pascal, ...), and the Choreographer graphical user interface. For
more information, write to Aion Corporation, 101 University Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94301, call 800-845-2466 (415-328-9595), or fax
415-321-7728.  For Europe, write to Software Generation,
Kontichsesteenweg 40, B 2630 Aartselaar, Belgium, call
32-(0)3-877.12.93, or fax [phone]

ART-IM and CBR Express run on personal computers (ART-IM $8,000, CBR
Express $10,000), workstations (CBR Express $12,500), and IBM
mainframes (CBR Express $150,000).  Although ART-IM can be purchased
as a separate product, it is part of CBR Express. ART-IM does
forward-chaining, has object-oriented contructs, and a good C interface.
It will also do backward chaining but you have to program that into
the rules yourself (easy enough to do). For more information, write
to Inference Corporation, 550 North Continental Boulevard, El Segundo,
CA 90245, call 213-322-0200, or fax [phone].

BABYLON. For more information, write to VW-GEDAS GmbH, Pascalstrasse
11, W-1000 Berlin 10, call [phone], or fax [phone].

CLIPS is an OPS-like forward chaining production system written in ANSI C
by NASA. The CLIPS inference engine includes truth maintenance, dynamic
rule addition, and customizable conflict resolution strategies. CLIPS,
including the runtime version, is easily embeddable in other applications.
CLIPS runs on IBM PC compatibles, Macintosh, VAX 11/780, Sun 3/260, and
HP9000/500.  CLIPS is available from COSMIC at a nominal fee for unlimited
copies with no royalties. CLIPS includes the Common Object-Oriented
Language (COOL) for real object-oriented programming. For more
information, email [e-mail], write COSMIC,
University of Georgia, 382 East Broad Street, Athens, GA 30602, call
404-542-3265, or fax [phone]. To subscribe to the CLIPS mailing list,
send a message to the list server [e-mail]
(128.192.14.4) with message body SUBSCRIBE CLIPS-LIST. 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. The CLIPS
help desk phone number is 713-286-8919 and email address is
[e-mail]. The book "Expert Systems: Principles and
Programming" by Joseph Girrantano and Garey Riley comes with an MS-DOS
CLIPS interpreter, but is geared toward an older version of CLIPS.

COGNATE runs on the Apple Macintosh and costs $250. For more
information, write to Peridom, PO Box 1812, Bowie, MD 20716, or call
301-390-9570. See also MacUser 4(12):134, December, 1988.

COGSYS. For more information, write to COGSYS Ltd., Enterprise House,
Unit 37, Salford University Business Park, Salford M6 6AJ, England, or
call 061-745-7604.

CRYSTAL runs on personal computers and is available from Intelligent
Environemnts. See PC Magazine 8(2), January 31, 1989.

ECLIPSE runs on personal computers (DOS, Windows). System V Unix and
POSIX versions are also available. The syntax is derived from
Inference Corporations' ART and is compatible with NASA's CLIPS.
Features include data-driven pattern matching, forward and backward
chaining, truth maintenance, support for multiple goals, relational
and object-oriented representations, and integration with dBase. For
more information, write to The Haley Enterprise, Inc., 413 Orchard
Street, Sewickley, PA 15143, call 412-741-6420, or fax [phone].
See also IEEE Computer, February 1991, pages 19-31. Cost is $999 for
Windows, $1,999 for Unix, $799 for DOS 386, and $1,499 for OS/2.

EXPERT-EASE runs on personal computers and is available from
Expertech, Ltd. See PC User (103):94, March 29, 1989.

Exper-OPS5-Plus runs on the Apple Macintosh and costs $495. For more
information, write to ExperTelligence, 5638 Hollister, Suite 302,
Goleta, CA 93117, call 800-828-0113 (except CA), 800-826-6144 (CA
only), or 805-967-1797. See MacUser 4(12):134, December, 1988.

EXSYS runs under MS-DOS, MS-Windows, Apple Macintosh, Sun Open Look,
Unix and Vax and is available from Exsys, Inc., 1720 Louisiana
Boulevard, NE, Suite 312, Albuquerque, NM 87110, call 800-676-8356
(505-256-8356), or fax [phone]. See also PC Tech Journal
7(1):115, January, 1989. A demo version for MS-Windows or Macintosh is
available for $40. [6/93]

FLEX is a hybrid expert system toolkit available across a wide range of
different hardware platforms which offers frames, procedures and rules
integrated within a logic programming environment.  FLEX supports
interleaved forward and backward chaining, multiple inheritance,
procedural attachment, an automatic question and answer system.  Rules,
frames and questions are described in a English-like Knowledge
Specification Language (KSL) which enables the development of easy-to-read
and easy-to-maintain knowledge bases.  FLEX is implemented in, and has
access to, Prolog. FLEX is available from LPA (who originally developed
flex on the PC), and also from most major Prolog vendors under license,
including Quintus, BIM, Interface, and ISL.  FLEX has been used in
numerous commercial expert systems, and prices on a PC running Windows or
on a Macintosh start at around $1,000.  [A review of Quintus-flex is
expected in an upcoming issue of PC-AI. --mk] For more information contact:
Logic Programming Associates Ltd, Studio 4, R.V.P.B., Trinity Road,
London, SW18 3SX.  Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone].
Email: [e-mail]

G2 is a real-time expert system shell that runs on workstations and
personal computers. It has real-time temporal reasoning, with rules,
procedures, and functions built around an object-oriented paradigm.
One can interface, both locally and over a network (TCP/IP and
DECnet), to other programs (C and ADA), control systems, and
databases.  G2 provides distributed computing and a multi-user
client/server architecture.  For more information, write to Gensym
Corporation, 125 Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140, call
617-547-2500/9606, or fax [phone].

GBB, generic blackboard framework: provides:
 -- A high-performance blackboard database compiler and
      runtime library, which support pattern-based, multidimensional
      range-searching algorithms for efficient proximity-based retrieval
      of blackboard objects
 -- KS representation languages
 -- Generic control shells and agenda-management utilities
 -- Interactive, graphic displays for monitoring and examining
    blackboard and control components
These components provide the infrastructure needed to build
blackboard-based applications.    GBB is available for DOS/Windows, Mac,
Unix workstations (Sun, HP/Apollo, IBM, DEC, Silicon Graphics),
Symbolics and TI Explorer Lisp machines.  (GBB is a significantly enhanced,
commercial version of the UMass GBB research framework, available via
FTP from dime.cs.umass.edu:/gbb/.) NetGBB, distributed extension to
GBB, provides to GBB the communication and coordination facilities
needed to build heterogenous distributed blackboard applications.
For more information write to Blackboard Technology Group, Inc., 401 Main
Street, Amherst, MA  01002, call 413-256-8990, or fax [phone]. To
be added to the mailing lists, send mail to [e-mail].
There are two mailing lists, gbb-user (moderated) and gbb-users (unmoderated).

GEST (Generic Expert System Tool) is a blackboard system internationally
licensed by Georgia Tech for expert system applications. Available on
Symbolics and SUN systems, GEST incorporates a number of knowledge
representation techniques and inference engine gearing mechanisms to
provide users a repertoire of knowledge structures to draw upon in
developing application systems.  A tutorial demonstration expert system is
included with the GEST software and is included as a chapter in the
documentation. The Symbolics version of GEST will be available at no cost
via FTP on July 1, 1993. The SUN version license is $9,500 and includes
all source code.  For licensing information, please contact Susan Coryell
at [e-mail], 404-894-5241 (office), 404-894-9081 (fax),
or write to Susan Coryell, GTRI-CSITL, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332.

GOLDWORKS II. For more information, write to Gold Hill Computers, Inc.,
26 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, call 800-242-5477
(617-621-3300), or fax [phone].

GURU is a real-time expert system that runs on personal computers. For
more information, write to Micro Data Base Systems, Inc. (MDBS), PO
Box 6089, Lafayette, IN 47903-6089 call 800-344-5832 (317-463-2581),
or fax [phone].

HyperX runs on the Apple Macintosh. For more information, write to
Millenium Software, 1970 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651, or
call 714-497-7439. See also MacWeek 3(5):6, January 31, 1989.

ILOG RULES is a high performance embeddable rule-based inference
engine. It is a forward chaining tool, written in C++ (hence it is
object-oriented and supports inheritance mechanisms) and is also
provided as a C++ library. It runs virtually on any Unix platform
(e.g., HP97X0, Sun4, RS/6000, DecStations) as well as on PCs running
DOS (with or without MS/Windows) or OS/2.  It extends OPS/5 with
nested premises (objects as values), rule packets (logical grouping of
rules), a full Truth Maintenance System (TMS) for efficient
non-monotonic reasoning, compilation of rules into C/C++ code, and an
object oriented data-model in C++. ILOG RULES work directly on user
objects, so interfacing is straightforward. C/C++ code may be included
in rule conditions and actions.  ILOG RULES is based on the fast XRETE
implementation of the RETE algorithm developed by Thomson-CSF.  For
more information, contact ILOG, Inc., 2073 Landings Drive, Mountain
View, CA 94043, tel [phone], fax [phone], e-mail
[e-mail].  European customers should contact ILOG SA, 2, av.
Gallieni, BP 85, 94253 Gentilly CEDEX, France, tel +33 (1)
46-63-66-66, fax [phone], e-mail [e-mail].

INTELLIGENT DEVELOPER runs on the Apple Macintosh and costs $395.  For
more information, write to Hyperpress Publishing, PO Box 8243, Foster
City, CA 94404, or call 415-345-4620. See also MacUser 4(12):134,
December, 1988.

INTELLIGENCE COMPILER.  For more information, write to Intelligence
Ware 9800 S. Sepulveda Blvd.  Los Angeles, CA 90045-5228 call
213-417-8896, or fax [phone].

Instant-Expert Plus runs on the Apple Macintosh and costs $498.  For
more information, write to Human Intellect Systems, 1670 South
Amphlett Blvd, Suite 326, San Mateo, CA 94402, or call 800-522-5939
(415-571-5939).  See also MacUser 4(12):134, December, 1988.

KBMS runs on personal computers. For more information, write to
AICorp, 138 Technology Drive, Waltham, MA 02254-9748, or call
617-891-6500.  PC Week 6(35):63, September 4, 1989.

KEE, ProKappa, and Kappa run on personal computers, workstations, and
Lisp machines. For more information, write to IntelliCorp, Inc., 1975
El Camino Real West, Mountain View, CA 94040-2216, call
415-956-5660/5500 or fax [phone]. See also Communications of the
ACM 31(4):382-401, April, 1988.

KES and SNAP run on personal computers (KES $4,000), workstations (KES
$10,000, SNAP $40,000 on most platforms), minicomputers (KES $25,000),
IBM mainframes (KES $60,000). Although KES can be purchased
separately, it is part of SNAP. For more information write to Software
Architecture and Engineering, Inc., 1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 500,
Arlington, VA 22209, call 703-276-7910, or fax [phone].  Write to
Template Software, 13100 Worldgate Drive, Suite 340, Herndon, Virginia
22070, call 703-318-1000, or fax [phone].

Knowledge Craft runs on minicomputers and Lisp machines. For more
information, write to Carnegie Group, 5 PPG Place, Pittsburgh, PA
15222, call 800-284-3424 (412-642-6900), or fax [phone].

KnowledgeWorks runs on workstations (Sun3, Sparc, DEC (MIPS), HP
400,700, IBM RS6000, Intergraph, MIPS).  It includes a CLOS-based
object system, OPS compatible forward chainer (2500 firings/sec on a
Sparc2), Prolog compatible backward chainer (40 KLIPS), graphical
programming environment, user-defined conflict resolution, MetaRule
Protocol for extending execution model, and a SQL interface for
relational databases.  For more information write to Harlequin Inc.,
One Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA, call
1-800-works-for-you (1-800-967-5749) or 617-252-0052, or fax
617-252-6505.  European customers should write to Harlequin Ltd.,
Barrington Hall, Barrington, Cambridge CB2 5RG, UK, call 0223-872522,
or fax [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail] or
[e-mail]. They also sell LispWorks (a Common Lisp and Prolog
programming environment) -- see part 4 of the Lisp FAQ, MLWorks (an ML
programming environment), and Watson (an intelligence analysis tool).

Laser. For more information, write to Bell Atlantic Knowledge Systems,
Inc., P.O. Box 3528, Princeton, NJ 08543-3528, or call 800-552-2257
(609-275-8393).

Level5 and Level5/Macintosh runs on personal computers and the Apple
Macintosh ($695). For more information, write to Information Builders,
1250 Broadway, New York, NY 10001, or call 800-444-4303
(212-736-4433). See also MacUser 4(12):134, December, 1988, AI Expert
4(5):71, May, 1989, and MacUser 6(2):88, February, 1990.

M.4 runs on personal computers (DOS, Windows) and sells for $995
(special pricing is currently in effect, selling for $495). A version
for Sun workstations and the Apple Macintosh is under development. It
features a modular Kernel Library for linking into C-language
applications, backward and forward chaining, pattern matching,
certainty factors, procedural control, and an object-oriented
programming system. M.4 is embeddable, configurable, and extendable.
For more information, write to Cimflex Teknowledge Corporation, 1810
Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303, or call 800-285-0500
(415-424-0500), fax [phone].

MacSMARTS, MacSMARTS - Professional, and HyperSMARTS run on the Apple
Macintosh (all versions less than $500). For more information, write
to Directory Cognition Technology, 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA
02138, or call 617-492-0246. See also MacUser 4(12):134, December,
1988.

MERCURY KBE. For more information, write to Artificial Intelligence
Technologies, Inc., 40 Saw Mill River Road, Hawthorne, NY 10532, call
800-333-1406 (914-347-6860), or fax [phone].

MUSE. For more information, write to Cambridge Consultants, Science
Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 4DW, England, or call
0223-420024 Cambridge.

NEXPERT OBJECT runs on over 30 platforms supported including personal
computers ($5000), Macintosh ($5000), workstations ($12,000),
minicomputers, and mainframes. Nexpert Object is written in C, and
includes a graphical user interface, knowledge acquisition tools, and
forms system. For more information, write to Neuron Data, 156
University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301, call 800-876-4900
(415-321-4488), or fax [phone]. Other office include New York,
212-832-8900; Philadelphia, 215-941-2981; Washington, DC,
703-821-8800; Los Angeles, 714-851-4621; Chicago, 708-955-3688;
Houston, 713-739-9020; United Kingdom, 44-71-408-2333, fax
44-71-495-6274; France, 33-1-40-70-04-21, fax [phone]; and
Japan, 81-3-3746-4371, fax [phone].  See also IEEE Software
5(5):98, September, 1988, PC Tech Journal 6(11):112, November, 1988,
MacUser 4(12):134, December, 1988, MacUser 4(9):136, September, 1989,
Computer Language 6(12):123, December, 1989, PC Week 7(26):43, July 2,
1990, MacWeek 4(25):10, July 10, 1990, and IEEE Expert December, 1991,
page 72.

Personal Consultant Plus. For more information, write to Texas Instruments
PO Box 2909, MS/2240, Austin, TX 78769, or call 800-527-3500.

RAL (Rule-extended Algorithmic Language) is a C-based RETE (OPS83)
implementation that allows one to seamlessly add rules and objects to
C programs. It runs on Apollo, Sony News, AT&T 3B series, Aviion,
DecStation, HP9000, RS/6000, Sun3, Sparc, Pyramid, Stratus, Unix
System V 386 machines, VAX, microVAX (VMS) and DOS. Production Systems
Technologies was founded by Charles Forgy, the original inventor of
the RETE algorithm.  For further information, write to Production
Systems Technologies, Inc., 5001 Baum Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15213,
call 412-683-4000 or fax [phone]. [6/93]

RTworks is a family of independent software modules developed for
intelligent real-time data acquisition and monitoring, data analysis,
message/data distribution, and message/data display. RTworks offers a
number of sophisticated problem-solving strategies including
knowledge-based systems, a point-and-click graphical user interface,
temporal and statistical reasoning, and the ability to distribute an
application over a heterogeneous network.  Included with RTworks is a
high-speed inference engine (RTie) which is used to analyze the data
using objects, classes, procedures, and rules. The IE can perform
trending, prediction and temporal reasoning of rapidly changing data.
Displays can be built by non-programmers using a user-friendly DRAW
program.  More than 60 different formats are provided for displaying
input data including strip charts, bar charts, control charts, dials,
pie charts, and high-low graphs.  Graphical objects can be tied to
variables which dynamically control attributes such as color, scale,
rotation, motion, animation, and more.  RTworks runs in a
client-server architecture in which the RTserver process intelligently
distributes the application's messages and data to only the client
prcoesses which need them. User-defined client processes can connect
to the RTserver and send and receive messages with other processes in
the application. Possible applications include process control,
network monitoring, financial trading, and command and control.
RTworks is available on a variety of Unix and VMS platforms under a
floating license in which you pay only for the number of simultaneous
users, and the software is not node-locked to a particular machine.
Current RTworks customers include Lockheed, NASA, Dow Chemical, PG&E
(Pacific, Gas, and Electric), SWIFT, Mazda, and NTT. For further
information, write to Talarian Corporation, 444 Castro Street, Suite
140, Moutain View, CA 94041, call 415-965-8050, fax [phone], or
send E-mail to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

SMECI is an expert system shell based on Lisp. For more information,
contact ILOG, Inc., 2073 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043, tel
415-390-9000, fax [phone], email [e-mail].  European
customers should write to ILOG, 2, av. Gallieni, BP 85, 94253 Gentilly
Cedex, France, tel [phone], fax [phone], email
[e-mail].

TestBench, Shell is available from the Carnegie Group, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.  The development environment runs on the SUN workstations
and the production environment on a number of platforms including PCs and
NeXT machines.

VP-EXPERT runs on the Apple Macintosh.  For more information, write to
Paperback Software, 2830 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710, or call
415-644-2116. See also MacUser 4(12):134, December, 1988.

YAPS is a tool for building expert systems and other programs that use
a rule-based knowledge representation in Lisp. The YAPS library
provides a CLOS class and appropriate methods which the programmer may
mix into his/her own classes or use directly.  Rules and facts about
an instance are associated with the instance.  Instead of one large
knowledgebase with many rules which are hard to debug and maintain,
the programmer creates smaller knowledge-bases which are modular and
more efficient.  The YAPS knowledge-bases can interact with and be
controlled by the programmer's other modules, making hybrid systems
straightforward.  Introduced by Liz Allen at AAAI-83, YAPS is now
available on Apple Macintosh, Sun3 and Sun4 (SPARC), DEC VAX under VMS
and Ultrix, and 88Open platforms. On workstations, a single license
costs $3995 and on the Macintosh (under Macintoch Common Lisp), it is
$445. YAPS runs in most commercial Common Lisps including Allegro CL,
Harlequin Lispworks, Lucid CL, IBUKI CL, and Macintosh Common Lisp.
YAPS is also available for the TI Explorer and Symbolic Lisp Machines,
and a Flavors version is available for Sun3 in Franz Lisp.  Other
ports are underway -- for price and availability contact College Park
Software at 461 W. Loma Alta Dr., Altadena, CA 91001-3841, USA; or by
email at [e-mail], or call 818-791-9153 (voice) or
818-791-1755 (FAX).
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