A major purpose of the Techni- cal Information Center is to provide the broadest dissemination possi- ble of information contained in DOE’s Research and Development Reports to business, industry, the academic community, and federal, state and local governments= Although a small portion of this report is not reproducible, it is being made available to expedite the availability of information on the research discussed herein. ------ -. . , Los Ammos Nallonal LbMfsW 10 ODW~W by MO Unwwry of Cahfomm for IM Uml.d Slw.t Doparmont cd Energy undar conlrsct w. 7405 .ENG. 36 LA-UR--88-3917 DE89 003587 TITLE. THE GRAPHICS ADVISOR: A PROTOTYPICAL ADVISORY EXPERT SYSTEM AUTHORfS): K. P. Berkbigler, C-10 P. A. Max, C-10 SUBMITTEDTO IMACS Conference on Expert Systems for N~merical Computing. Purdue Lfnivcrsicy, West Lafaycttr, lndla~a, D~cember 5-7, 198(+. DIS(:l.AIMER Thin rqmrl wm prepred usmt rnwunl{)f wurksplnmrdhynn ngcncyoflhe (lnllcd S1mcc (irrvernme.11 Neither the I Jmlcd Stma (iovcrnmcnt nor my ngency Iherw(, nor uny of Ifmr cmploycck, m~kcs trny w:wrtinly, express m Imphuf. or -ssumcs urry Iegul Ilnhllily or rcsprci- hlhty fur Ihc uccurmcy,completencw+.or uscfulncu of -ny mformnlmn, uppmrnlu%prwfucl, or prmxw dlwl(mcd, or rcprcncrm Ihsi IIS use would noI Infrlngc prwmlcly owned rlghm Refer. crwc hcrcm III Any rnpcafic cornmurcml pruduc!. prwcas, or .wrwcc hy Irtidc numc, Irrnrkcmark. manufxlurcr, M olhcrwi= d(xs nol ncrxss~rily constitute or Imply IIX cndtmumcnl, rccom mcndwlmr, or fnvormB hy Ihc [ Jnltal SItIcs (irwcrnm?nl or uny tigerrcy !hcreo( “I”hcviews and opmmnn of wthorrn cnpred harm do not rrcccnssnly USIC or reflect Ih(= III Ihe I In,tcd Slnlcs ( iovernmcnl or uny ngcncy Ifrcrcnf BV ~CC091WKP 0! Ihm ●rl#clm Iho publmtlm Iocognllan Ihal Iho L) S GOVC#nmUll rwlmns ● nommclualwa royally.lf~ hcongg 10 publ,mh or 19DroduLa lho publ, shed lrrfm 01 Ih, s Conlf!bul,On of 10 ●now Olhsra lo do go Iof L S Gcrvarn~l DuIpM. lLOSNlaUTilOSL..AI.. .NevvfVlexi..87545Los Alamos National Laboratory u!. , , ~ bsTH!L ~~~~.,~wtim(l#mm 1,*I1(4,:,II!”,}.,1~31mlmnlm, .“ About This Report This official electronic version was created by scanning the best available paper or microfiche copy of the original report at a 300 dpi resolution. Original color illustrations appear as black and white images. For additional information or comments, contact: Library Without Walls Project Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library Los Alamos, NM 87544 Phone: (505)667-4448 E-mail: lwwp@lanl.gov The (haphics .Advisor: .4 Prototypical Ad~.isor~- Expert S~xten)., . K. P. Berkbigler and P. A. Max Computing and Communications Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Abstract llIe Graphics Advisor is an expert system that lILJllJS uw=rs of tlw Los Alamos Integrated Com- l~lllillg Xclworii select the graphics ]ibrary t]la[ is best suited to the c]]aracteristics Of a specific graphics application The implemental ion of tt, r system, using a commercial expert system devel- opment tool, is described. Delivery option6 are discussed. Although the domain knowledge of [lie Graphics Advisor is Griented toward libraries that arc supported try the Computing and Communi- cations Division at Los Alamos, it exemplifies a class of knowl~dge-based .sys[cms that arc polcIl- tiitll~ useful iII a varir[y of advisory situatiwls. 1 Introduction ‘1 11~’ Gri+l~llics Advisor is an expert system tl:at 11111,IS llsor,~ of tlIII I,crs A]alna Intrgratml (;oIn- pIII”IIIg x~,twnrk (](’N) sr]cct thr graphics Iihrary t Ili\t IS iwst ~ulted to tht= characteristics of a spr- clfic graphich npplicatioll. TIIC expert Ryst.rm de- trrlllineh Ihr p:efr-rred library hy mntching thr graphic features requirrd by the usrr wilt) tlw fra- t urwi supportrd i~ each library usiug r.lles fur- nislwd by an ●xpcr( on the graphics libraries. ‘III(’ Graphim Ad\ism project WJM undertaken wit h several goals in rrlind, OIIF wwr to gain aonir rx]wricllw with untlmercial rxpwt SyRtrIII devrl- 0~111101111001s and ascrrlain thrir nuitahility for dP- vrl(]l~ing ~ystrwm in our rnvlronrrwno Another r-d) JIII IVI) wns to Cxnl]lillr tllr ufirfu]llrns of ?xprrt h}hlq,llb twl ImdL)gy ill fiul.lmrl of tllr ctm~ult illg n~-l Ivlllrs 1~(.rforttm[l ill t lie ( k)llll)llllll~ nn(l ( ‘f)tlI- Illllllirrrllollb l)lvlsir~ll ((’ I)lvifii(m). ‘Ii) t.hi~ endl wo rwhrchrf! for all n~)].licnti,m thrd ui ty}>lral of t)llr rImkIIlt IIIg nelivitirh ftIId mmwal)lr tfl iml~lr- tllf.lllnt li~tI * all rxlwrl nyntrtll ‘1’11(” Illr)drl Fll) l,licnli[~tl slif:hld II,, l;wKr rIIIIuglI t[~ ~xrwrirw rllurb of the functionality available in commercial tools but small enough to be implemented using several tools so that LOOIS can be compared, The prorcs~ of choosing an appropriate graphics library mtj~h[> t!lese criteria and was w’lected for implemental UJII. Hence the Gra])hics Advisor svrvm as a protrlt-w~,( for other advisory syst-nrs that might he built ill C Divisio]], 2 Background Tile I.os Alamos I(”N consists of computers witllill the Central (’cmlputing Facility ({’{’F) al~{.1 a IIIt - worli linking tbcse computers to distribu[~,{l pr,.,. cessors outsldc the CCF and to tcmnillals ii~l{l TCP/l P-ba*ed workstations ill users’ offircs.[1 ] kf”i[ hin the (’(’~ arc many compul ers frmll srvrr;li vendors, including (3ay, CD(”. and L) E(’,l runl]lllg a varivty of opmat ing systrms, CT!X$, B l(~r-al s}>- tenl, runfi on the (’ray cornputrrsi NOS, a (“[)(’ operating systenl runs CrII thr CD(’ n]wllinvs: aII(l the I)E(”’ computcr~ run ritlwr \’NIS or a versir,ll ,,f [IN IX. ThtI I(’N is uscrl hy morr than 8,000” lwtq)b. of which a~~proxilllatrly 5,500” an. Lnl)orator} VIII, ployces and 2,500” arr lor-at rd at ot her inst alliit II IIIS throughout tllc [Jnitr,d S[atw, ‘1’hww usrrs arc,w thiI ICN through tm~tlinaf+, dnitrihutrd procmw,r+, or workst ationri, wit II renmfr usrrs connrct lllg \I; I le]cphonr- cfi~lull, I{*wAxI Iinm+, the I),,f(,lls(, I);it,t Nrt work, or ‘1’rlrlwt, OI)r rr=sponsillillty of t IIC ( ‘<~llll~utor [Is(,r S{,r vices (;roul~ i~ to o~wr~tr thr ( ‘f HIHUll IIIg ofli(f ‘1’his gr(ul)) of higlil! exporlrnrrv{ c~nqmt Ing ]~r, I fwriotlal H rotlrullt~ (Ill n wdr vi+rir-ty of l(,j~i{s, III rludl[lg progrmnlilling lmIgur IgrK, grrrphlc~ nll(l fiys tel II Iil)rnrirfi, and III Illt Ivh ‘]’ll,.~ ~si, Il,lvlNr uw,r> ‘(’lay II FWWIII. III, ( “Inllnd I)mla ( “tq)tm.sllt,th 1)IRII al l~~uipnlriil { ‘url,(]l ● l it,II 1 about what soflware is available for solving cer- tain problems. how to use the softwarf . and what document a[ion describes the software. C Division supports a common set of software across all systems to allow users to move conve- niently from one system to ancther. “l’his soft- ware includes Fortran graphics lib~aries, two of which, the Common Graphics Systm! (CGS) and CGSHIGH, were developed at Los A; .mos, Three arc vendor-supplied, DISSPLA and Graphical Ker- nel Sjsteln (GKS) fron] Computer Associates and ](CAR fronl t]le National Center ff r Atmospheric Research. Consulting on these libra lies is provided by the Consulting Office. Howew:r. the Consulting Office is not responsible for coi)slilting on third- par{)” graphics software that users might instail on individual distributed processors m workstations CGS, a library of device drivcr6 and prirnitivcs. is the basis for the other graphics libraries. It sup- ports a device-independent file, the (XS metafile. that may kw processed on ally graphics device ill tl)e tXF or may be viewed on any suppolted grapl]ics ter]l]inal, SUCIT as the Tektronix 4125, TIIC cGS1ll(; lI library pro~ides high-level subroutines t hat call prclducc a conlpletr x-y plot from one call. II al-u 6upIwrts subroutines that control plotting dd:lu]ts, such as color and line style, that are set l~! Ill,, higll-lrvr] routinrs. ‘l” IIv I) ISSI)LA librtiry ; ;ovides ntiddlc-lcvrl cii- j,ill~llilics, illcluriillg x-y tllrer-dinlellsiollal, and rrmtcjur pluts, grapllirs arts chara~ter fonts. intvr- polat ion and curve smoothing. pie and bar charts, and Illaps of coast lilw and political boulldarivs, I) ISSPLA is the only !ihrary at Los Alamorj tllal supllorts graphics art’. character fonts, so it is umd for producing publication quality graphic~ GKS, a Iihrary of b~ic funrt i,ms, provides mow than 200 subroutine Illat olill~ul graphical primltivcti, WI ntlriljulrkl control worlwtntiollsl pcr[ornl transfer. II Ia[IrNIS, ol)tuin gr,)l,llical input, and lIandl P crr(jls ‘1’111*R( ‘Al{ Iibl;try proviflos high-l?vcl rapnhili- ti{,s, IIlcludlllg x-;?, t l~rrr-dirllrllsiollal, nnd cwnt~mr lIIIrl S, lWt>{lilllrl,siOllill vrlt)city fields, Rtrfanllinr rt’~llc%(’illnliclllh of n flow fwld, half- tolw l}lc[ure6, ;III{I gt,t~grnl~llir II I,ajm ‘1 lIr ill]portanrr lo tlwr comftlunilim of arI n(l- wisf.jry hrrvirr in wrll rfil ni~liNhrd[2], I)(II M rmm)t r c{,llli~utiti~ Ivwmlwk nmrc prcvah-nt thr arIwIunt (If fnw Iwfam IOIIRUII it:g is drrlllling ThI~ hm hmII t 1P’ trcrl{; Id I (M Alnmf~ for BIJIIW tilllr Innfn’nl Ivr nl)l)rfmctlrs I(I providing gIIIdmICr to lJnrrs nrr r(. qulrr~l, nlld ~x~mrt riyN~enlti Ilmvr Iwrn ~uggr~t.r(l M n l~(vi~il}lc hlltlltl(lll [3] Tlie advisory function is being actively studi~.i! from bo~h the Behavioral science and com~)u[(’r science perspectives. (Set= [4] for a comprell~ll- sive overview of advice-gi..’ing syste,rns. inciudi]lg a review C! the literature. ) Much of tht, currl.llt research is oriented toward embedding tll~, fi(ll i- sory ~ystem within t IJe soflware system being used. e.g., Lhe operating system or word processing sys- tem. These advisory systems are designed to ei~ lwr passively or actively help the user dbring interac- tive use of the software. A user model in wllicll the user’s goals are dynamically inferred from tll~ user’s interactions with the >ystern is generally inc- luded. Advice can thus bc given in context atld geared to the user’s apparent level of sophist i cat ic,ll with the system At this stage tlw scope of the Graphics Advisor is more modest. It operat~s M a separa(r systt’]1), so no opportunity exists for observing lllr user at- tempting to usr t!:c graphics librarivs. Furtlll. r- more becaus~ its p!Jrpose is to help the user st~ltI-I a library, the Graphics Advisor will typi( ally 1,,, consulted before the user gains any experience with the libraries. The exp~:ted users of the Graplllcs Advisor are primarily new or novice users who nrc~l general information on tlw availah!~ librarirs an~l tllcir c,apabilitim relative to sprcific applications. The inlplicit user model in tlw ~; raphics Advisor is t.argctecl at this audicllcr The C;raphirfi Advisor has nmre i~l ccmrlnlon with the results of the protocol study cm onr-sllt)l di- alogs reported by Artronson and ( ‘arroll .[.’); \li\l)} of thr Wrategics they found human ndviw)rs Prll. pio~ in ri situation whrr( no follow-u~) is ]~ossil,l(. havr also been used in tlw (;rapbirs Advisor, !+)lllt. ?xanlplm arc reeking rmsulllptiot:s al}out III(. Ilw,r’s goal%, [)rovidillg R!tcrllat ivc fiolllt lolls, 1)011)1IIIg III rrfmcncc murcrs, and pr(~$’idillg ill) CXlllilllilt if)]) tion of II]C (lrapllics Advisor took place on a Texas Ill+tru])wnls Exl)lorer Lisl> nlacllilm. 3.1 KEE KEE is a hybrid expert syslem development tool offering a variety of knowledge representation ar,d reasoning possibilities[8], many of which are used in the Graphics Advisor. KEE is available for nu- merous hardware platforms in both development and delivery versions. Interactive arid progranl- n)atic interfaces to its capabilities are provided. Tile frame system allows the definition of hierar- cl)it’s of objects or concepts. At the top of the IIierarclly arc classes that contain slots describing [he attrihu(cs and behaviors of an object and serve as templates for the creation of individual objects Iinmvil as instances. Instances inherit the slots of their parent classe6 and may define their own val- UM for these attributes, Tile rule system implements both data-drivel) reasoning (forward chaining) and goal-driven rea- soning ‘backward chaining) using a single represen- tatiol~ for the rules, Rules may be partitioned into classes for efficient handling of subproblenm. \“ari- ables arv Iwr]nit[ed ill the rules and arc bound to values at runtinw when the rules are tested, ‘I”hv ol~j~’ct-oriclltrci programlnitlg and acc~ss-oricll(r(! prograllln):l~g (r-lemons) paradign~ ar~ available l): Ivri[il)g rod(, ill conlllloll Lisil, [he inlr)lt~lnell[atit)~l li~llgllag(’ fur I(EE. Support for nonrnonotonic rrn- smlillg is IIrcrvidrd in tlw fornl of tllrKEEworl~!\ and lrulll llliiilltCliJllC(’facilili(:s, I{es(’arcll in Ilunlan-compulrr intcrfare t~ cll- Ili[lu(,s lIas lIOgUII to produce guidclilms for WIICII 10 usr Kllec]fic ]lltrr~r(]crn sty]es. [~,lo] KEE pro- Vldvs uficr-inlrrfare drvrlopnlcnt facilil ics for rwv- crnl typeh of interfarcs, Muttiplr witldcwfi are tyll- ically usrd in an application to separatr diffrrrnt t ypm of information, Mrnus cmu be generated ~ly - nnl~lirnlly, if drsirrd, and tllr Activc]magrs fnril- ity for Ijuildll]g dirrct nlanilmlation interfmw call I)r ru~tol]uzrd. (irnl]llical illt,crfacr~ Illay he CIIII hlrucletl Ilhillg colllljolmnts frorll li~;l;pirt urvs. 3.2 Graphics Advisor i(II(mlr{lgI ill tlw (irallllic~ Advi~{~r is rrl)rcncllt[.tl usill~ l)f)tlI tlIr franw siyntorll and III(. rule nystrltl l:l~llro 1 klI[m+ n (lIklJ]ay of [11~ linow]vdg,,IHWWfor 111~*f;r:~l,lll(,~ Atlvl~{)r. ShJII. It) fIm IIVh hrr usrd to r~’l)rmmrlt [nrls rrl~(llll ~rn[~lllrb IIl)rnrms kurlI I* wholllrr fI ~jnrllrlll;lr (1.;I am-mii:nams Ma-~AL-nm-mTTas aAs-~MruAToas RAs-smLs-rALLrY- msPsATs us-sLoT-~MKs MS--W- WLT-H~S SAD-~~- WLt- MITI@S-CUSTa-S~~ SAs-usrsu-n!sa-mnms , Sussl 4 ‘ .s0ss2 ,, ‘ ‘ .Sossa,, ,.. - ,...s0ss4 I SO’SSIBLMILUtj :-- - Sosss,: . I .. .! . ‘SUSS6 / ‘, ‘s0ss7 ?0ss8 I / .?mrl ,,mtrls MD, ~LES \ .’.’ mmi ,,, \ ,’,’,J,Pmmz ,,, , ,,, , .rscr~a,,, ,, ‘“’,’, rmi4,,, , ,,, ,., “,. . , ?ml$ . ‘.--,,. ~ -., , - ?mi6 ~:, .-. PBtrnus, mus4 i -. .-. . PmIr17 d:. . , Css .;, casalm Imuxssa : - .- DISSPSJ . ...m(s ‘ Mu 10T ,~L ,M L(S. ~t ,AV lLss. PWsm w’. --. p,trz . . . . . “.. .. . . . . . ‘. mr3... . . . tui~ is supplied by the library, definable by the user, or not definable. Attributes are defined for the libraries class and are inherited by individual libraries and assigned appropriate values at the in- slance level. information about the characteristic of the user’s application also is stored in slots in a similar frame as the user enters those characteristics. Con- straints upon allowable values have been specified and are enforced by KEE. For example, it makes no sense for publication quality to bc both required and not required in a siug]e application, and this inconsistency is not permil led. Customized facets have betn defined in the frame used to describe the user’s problem: they arc used to store references to defi]litions and examples of certain plotting fea- tures. Rules are used to represent the conclusive as- pects of the expert “s krlo\vlcdg?, The rules ir, tllc Cral)hics Advisor are diVided inlo two classes. One class of ru]cs determines \~llich libraries could pos- sibly h used by conlparillg facts about libraries \vill] requirements defined by Lhe user, Libraries IIIa I do no[ suppor[ rI required feature are elilni- Ila[ecl fronl consideration. Another class of ruh,s represents the expert’s ht=uristlcs for when to use ~ii~]l library. This incl~dcs sul)jeclive judgrnlt,ll[+ such a~ whe[]ler a library provides su]]crlor funr- 1 iulliilily in it particular area, case of use, and docu- 1111,111~11011 (Illiilil)’. 7“IIC rxpcrt S~SIClll oll C7illf ’S US- ill~ forward cllp.illing. \vilh some \vt?igllling f[irtors ill,l~ll(’(1 \vi[llill tl~v second rule class. ‘T”llc cal]irbil- ily fur varialjlr l)iu Jing within rulvs is hcavi]y used and is rmpolisil~lr for [he rihility to rxpress knmvl- (,Il&r ill {II(, Gral)llics Arlvis~,r i!) so frw rulm. It is oslill~;lt~vl tl];~l il woIll(l Iako 1-2 cmicrs (Jf nlilglli I IId C IIIrx(’ rulr+ to lllll~lrllwnl the sallw knt~wlrtlg(, using a rulr riy KICIII tnat dow Iiot support varial)lcs. Iricllcl]y Uscrh WIIO l]avc exalllild tlh= (ir;l])];ics Advlsrx tilld ilR usrr interface vrry attract iw’, “1’l)v illtrrfnrr iri in~plenmntcrl in ~ dirrct rnani}~ulno icm slyh. lJFlllg t.]IF Ac[ivrlllmgcri suhyslcm of ~ltl~. ‘1.110 primary illmgr paurl is shrJwlI ill Iigurr 2 ‘1’llr urwr Billlply I)wnbi willl the mouse to Ihfwr frn[ urrs IIInl tlIt- ,tl)])li~iiti(}l) IIrrd~ ILIIrl cllckp, IIIr Irft III(NW 1)11111)11 t!: rrglstrr 1110 rlmirrw. No uw of 1111 Iwyl)onrd is mndI’ rxcr-lIt ill thr optimml rf)ltr 1111’111 filrl]lt~ ‘]’tlr’ hlj-: ‘]”J’l)mlcrill! Wllldo W iR IJW(I III rol].llillct Lu) wit II t III, (IIIt put jrotl] Art ivrlllla~r~ I(J IIlovi,lr ndditl(ulnl trx Iuml itlfi)rllmlitul, murh M n rrfvrrtlrr to (lf,rlllllt’lltntl~lll !ilr 1.1]0 rf,cltllllllrlltl(,tl Illlrilry tw ml rxlllrrtlnti(jll {)f 111(, rruwlllillg mml ill ;lr~ li lllg xl Ilw rcrl]llll,l(,ll(l:illllll Some of the operatioll.i ill tllr (;ral)llir+ Ad\i - sor are implemented as nlethods. thal I’ . prfJC!dll- ral Lisp code that is executed under o11P ol,j,lct - oriented paradigm when il recrivcs a rlws tt) [III. user. General in forrnalioll, such as plot tyl~~+ r, quircd and operating sys[t’m requir~”d. is dlsl~l:l}til in the primary image panel that is alwa}s prt,wrl! on tile screen. Options having 10 do will] [Ill, ii])- pearallrr of the plot arc on a srparale Ij,lnt,l tll;,l pops up only if the user r(,qurwts limro (Io[aill,(l control over plot appear anrc, Silllilarly, I Iw fnlll,lll device to bc usrd is otlly relevant for onf, plot [yl)(. so it is shown only wllcll t]lal plot tyl)t, is WIITIIOII The USI of Inultiplc, autoirla[ica]ly rli+lllay’lt l,A]!. rls reciucrs I])(, complexity of llIr illforll]al 1o11 111:11 tilt’ user nwst deal wit]) a[ OIIV tilll~’. ‘1’110 cxplanttioli n.mipollrnl f,f at) FIll\IY ,r} ,s prrl Sy”slrnl iti al) CMlllllliil t’lIillI[,lIl I’m I II, s)sI(III”> accrplancf~; usf’rs oflvll Walll to kllilu \vl]! it r(,i, onlllmndtit ior, wns n)adr, All Il[nlgll Kl:l.1 I]rlwl,ll.< gOOd rll)f, tritrlllg ~apal)ll~llt,s fllr 1]](- k}’~11,111lllI\ll oprr, \w, feel that lhiq cnI)trlJllily d(ws 11,)1 llr(~rlll,, an adrquit(rly uhw-oriwtrri CXlIl:III;IIIIJII III I III, PN pcrl syslcIII’s rc;wolling Accord lllgly, a t(,t 1111111111 was adnlllc~l whrrrl)y VJIIgl IslI St iltl’111(’111~ (If t 11~, rc(lso]w tll:ll IIl)r;lrim wrrf, clill]ill;\lf,,l fr,}lll t(tll\i,l crat ion rirc riirvml ill a sh)t ill II)(, kn~nv!wlg,, I);!-,, ru+ I Ilr rr[L6clllllg pr(lgrrs~(,s ‘1’llf’w’ ilf’(’llll llll;llr(l ~tatclllcllts arc III(SII dlsllln~wl III t lIr I]sf’r \YIII~II ill) rxplfinnliml i~ -rqumtr(l ‘1’11(’ I’xplilllallllll (“a]lilllll ‘t)’ lh il]lJkitriltllll ill ll~llrl, :] Just .M tllr (’xl~{”rt ~y~trlll IINlSI i,, :11,1, i,, ,x l~]nill Itsrlf 10 ttlr Uhrr, N) II II.111111.,+ 1111, IIw.r IV, III III like It) cxl~rrHs cotllt]lrllt~ III tllr S! SII, III II) 1111 (;ral~llir~ Arjvimlr, {JIW lllny {lo ~,, I,y usllIg II I,, ,,,1,, rlwnt fmclllty ‘1’hr user I% I)rotlq)lr(l to t~l),. 1,, ;, frrv-forlll rwnmrwl thnt ifi rm~r{l III n Iilr f~ir KIII, nrqllrllt Iimlls;ll Ity thv Oxl)crl ~ystt,lll (lr\,f.1ol)t.1 ‘1’llin cnl}nl~illly ifi Irivlnl t[~ l~r,}iltl,. ntl(l I)rrwr(l Ii, Itr umf’ul ftjr tllllltilllllg fvrIll Imli wllI-11 IIW.11 III .I l>rrvlt~lm ~y~[,,l)l IIvvoI,,I),uI ;~t 1,,):. Al;ItIl(,~ I I I ] ‘1’llc Illlrnr.w (It hl.rlllllly, llIr ~.,r;ll,lllls ft., It III,.< 4 Left click the mmse on each required plotline featu”e Then left c!ick on Make Recommendation lis24 Middle click for tin example of the plo:tine feature Right click for information on th”: plotting feature lfT’=71 1 I Selections I -=-’lI-=l II m CIJXVE II I Pla Pmwous II La MAP PXOJLC1 ION MFALMISm VELOrll V v1C1ORS II FMM41WFMINTS J rUnknown CGSHIGH LIBRLWY CANNOT DO MAP PLOTS. CGSH!GH LIBRARY CXNN13T DO CONTOLIRFYOTS. GKS LIBRARY IS NOT AV41LAllLE ON TtK CTSS WERATING SYSTEM. CGS LIBRARY CANNOT DO PUBLICATION IJUALITY. NC4R LIBRARY CANNOT DO PUBLICATION iJllALITY. GUS LIBRAfw CANN(IT 00 PllBLICATlnN OIIALITY. CGSHIGH LIBRARY LhNNOl 00 PUBLILA1lUN QLIAI ITY. t lint III(* u..rr niay rrquirc arr mwwsnrlly Ivrw 1 mm I User’sComments 1 I Explaln Possibl(’ I-ibrarles Figure2: Graphics Advise: imagcpallcl I zxa~la a-D Cuswo I 5 icl)[ state of technology does not permit this, at least not as tl~e Graphics Advisor is presently in~- plenlen$.ed- One of the strengths of KEE is its built-ill capabilities for designing direct manipu- lation user interface Such interfaces are easy to learn and use and allow tk ~ user much more flex- ibility in the order in which operations are per- formed Placing the locus of control with the user permits specification of input values in whatever order seems most natural, rather than in some pre-determined order dictated by the programmer. The user interface to the Graphics Advisor requires a high-resolution bit-mapped display with a win- dow system and a mouse, features not available to users with “dumb” terminals. The technical op- IicI-rs avaiialr!c today for expert system delivery to lC~~ users represet]t varying degrees of compromise bet\veen availability} to et-ery user and a powerful, flexil.11(’ user interface, C Division is working on a project aimed at distributing computing tas!is bet\vcen workstations and mainframes, which may alleviate this problem in Ihe future. More than one delivery option may eventually IJP implenlented, but t]c first delivery platform for tlw (Jraphics Advisor \vill Lre to use Run[ime KEE 011 a 5[” S \\orkslatioil.2 The expert system will lJe available in the Qomputer User Services Group and possibly at selected user sites that have a large CUIII ingcnt of new users. The feedback obtained fron~ use of Ille system at these locations will guidr tllc dlrr=ction of future efforts, Olllrr options tl;at were considered and dis- card(’d for now inclr-rdcd using a distritulcd dc!iv- cr} sy\lcIIl fron] Inlcll]corp wllcre the expert sys- tctl) functionality is dis[ril~ulcd bet.t;een a VAX ]naillfranw a:ld I13M/PC front ends. Thi~ option is Ilul cml]patihle with much of our current tcr- tr; illal network, lh=irnplemellting t he system 011 an ](’if ll(Jd!’ SUCII u a VAX and redoing the user in- tr-rfacr ..0 operate on any V’TIOO-compatible t,ermi- nal also was considered. This idea was rej~cted m too titlm-consenting and too compromising of the desirable umr interface ill the current implementa- tion Reinlplcmenting tlip sy~telll in a less ●xpen- sivr rx}wrt systcnl tool that could be distributed wit ]1 tile app!icalioll WM at~amdonrd M too difficult to ndlliil~iHtcr. Although d!.livrritlg 011 SIIN workntatitms has a dmdval)tagr, Ilallwly the ability to rracll only a sul Iwl of our Utirr Crmll;mnity, it al)prars tr) tw tl)o III*SI nlt~rll:ltivc RI this t.ill~r Accordingly, rI I{UII ‘SIIII hlicrtmynlrlllm. 1111 time KEE license for the SUN was obtained. and the Graphics Advisor has Lcvl) pcrtcd to that pliit - form. The system has no! yet been dislribulcd, I,ul we expect to do so shortly. q Future Directions Many possibilities exist for enhancements to t hv Graphics Advisor. The knowledge stored for tlw graphics librarief could be extended to include ill- formatirm about when and how to use specific suh- rou:irws to accomplish particular plotting opera- tions. Such a system would be appropriate fc,r users having a broader range of skills and nm} require a more sophisticated user model. As II I,, foundation for dis(rihuted computing ill IIIC 1(’S becomes more rohusl, \ve may try to ilnl}lcnwllt the (lraphics Advisor as a distributed appllra(iol] It has also Lecll suggested that ,t similar sys[cl]l It, advise on tile matllematica] libraries a\ai IaLl,, al Los A]amos would be useful. Further wo:h \vill III governed in part by the feedback received 01] [II(: prototype of the Graphics Ad~isor that is al,out [~, be rcleiuicd. Acknowledgment, This work was done und~:r III(I auspices of the ~ .S, Depart rrlent of Fnergy, References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] N, R. Morse C-Dlul.ston Annual R(lr(u CIId Optmiirrg Pla II. LA-11216-MS, Los A]irIIICM National Laboratory, 198S M. J. Coombs and J. L. Alt::. (.’umpu/lnfl Skill.+ attd fh~ /lsrr fn/crfarr, Acacfr-]llit, ]’r,,ss, LoIIdoII, 1981. P. Anstry. Computing Advice at a l)istal\((,: The ‘Remet e Advisory” Concept. So/tuJ4 n Prachcc ~nd Erpcrlrncr, 16(11):1045 1052, November 1986 John M. (;arroll and Jpan McKerrrlree, III. tcrfam Design Issues for Advice-giving k:x pert Systems, (~ommun:raflons of thr ,4{”,1/, 30(1):14 31, January 1987 Anly Aarontum at]d John hf. (~arroll, lntrl ligrnt I{f?lp III a ollr’-shol l)lrIhJg: A I’rf,- torol St urfy In Prwrrding.s )Iuvtan l“ar-(or.+ m (.’umpullng .~’ystrm.i all d (;wpl)fr.+ /H/r r- facr, l)npi I(M l(iH, A(’M/sl(;( ’111, ‘I”,w,,l,,,,, (’arncla, April $!) I!M7 [6] \\”illian~ B. Gevartet, The Nature and Eval- uat ion of Commercial Expert System Build- ing Tools. lEEE Computer, 20(5):24–41, May 19d7. [71 \Villiam ?dettwy. An Assessment of Tools for Building Lmge Knowledge-baaed Systems. A I J?aga:tne, d(4):81-89, \Yinter 1987. [i”: I(EE User’s Cti Idc. Intel licorp. Inc.. hfoun- tain \:iew, California, K3.1-VG-1, hlay 1988. [{)] Ben Shneiderman. Designing fh~ Us~r lnferj’ace: Stmt~gtts /or Eflcctire Human- Computer ~nttracilon. Addison-M:esley Pub- lishing Company, Reading, hlassachusetts, 19s7. [10] James A. Hendler, editor. Expert Systems. The (;scr /nt(rfac(. Ablex Publishing Com- pany. Norwood, New Jersey, 1988. [11] hlary Stoddard. Kathj Berkbigler. Bob \\-lleat. and Eva Peter. l-ser Behavior l-pen introduction of a Network Help System. SfGCill Bulletln. 16(3):25-31, January 1985.