Expert System Shells: What To Look For

Expert systems are interactive computer programs that ask the same questions a human expert would ask, and from the information given to them provide the same answer the expert would provide. If a body of knowledge can be codified into a set of questions and answers, it can be incorporated into an expert system. A good example of such a body of knowledge is the reference librarian's knowledge of the reference collection at his or her library; the set of questions asked by a librarian during a reference interview can be used to access this body of knowledge.