COMPONENTS OF EXPERT SYSTEM – AN ALTERNATE APPROACH

Another way to analyze expert system components is to look at the physical ingredients
of the system as follows:
1. Hardware
Expert system shells operate on all types of hardware such as micro-computers,
minicomputers and mainframe computers. Since microcomputers have become ubiquitous, it
has become the standard hardware platform.
2. Software
Two types of software are needed for expert system: symbolic programs and expert
system shells.
The expert systems were developed in symbolic programming languages. They have
facility to process symbols rather than numbers. Expert system shells consist of a set of
programs that provide an environment to declare rules and other knowledge. The shell also acts
as an interface between the user and the expert system.
3. Knowledge
Expert system stores knowledge for decision-making. The knowledge may be
represented in a meaningful way such as rule-based format or frame-based or a combination of
both so that it can be retrieved to solve real-life problems.
4. People
Expert system requires some personnel with some expertise.
5. Knowledge Engineers
Knowledge engineers are responsible for creating an expert system. They interview
domain experts and build knowledge base of the system. Their tasks are acquiring knowledge,
modeling knowledge, and encoding knowledge.
6. Procedures
Both the users and expert system operators have to follow certain procedures for working
with the expert system. The procedures for normal operations and recovery operations have to
be developed and maintained.