Applications of rule-base coverage measures to expert system evaluation

Often a rule-based system is tested by checking its performance on a number of test cases with known solutions, modifying the system until it gives the correct results for all or a sufficiently high proportion of the test cases. This method cannot guarantee that the rule-base has been adequately or completely covered during the testing process. We introduce an approach to testing of rule-based systems, which uses coverage measures to guide and evaluate the testing process. In addition, the coverage measures can be used to assist rule-base pruning and identification of class dependencies, and serve as the foundation for a set of test data selection heuristics. We also introduce a complexity metric for rule-bases. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.