Solving VT by reuse

This paper describes how the Domain-Independent Design System (DIDS) was used to solve the VT Sisyphus task. DIDS enables knowledge engineers to rapidly build knowledge systems by providing libraries of reusable problem-solving procedures, called mechanisms, and reusable knowledge-acquisition procedures, called mechanisms for knowledge acquisition (MeKAs). Instead of writing code, engineers build systems by selecting and combining elements from these libraries. Therefore, DIDS-developed systems are easy to build and are not brittle, i.e. they can be easily modified by replacing mechanisms and MeKAs. To demonstrate these ideas, DIDS was used to solve the VT task by starting with the DIDS solution to the Sisyphus room-assignment problem. A problem solver and knowledge-acquisition tool for the VT task were created by replacing a few of the mechanisms and MeKAs used for the room-assignment task with those better suited to the VT task. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited