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International Conference on Automated Deduction

CADE 1996: Automated Deduction — Cade-13 pp 508–522Cite as

Rewrite semantics for production rule systems: Theory and applications

  • Session 7A
  • Conference paper
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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 1104))

Abstract

Production rules are a fundamental computational paradigm in artificial intelligence, perhaps being best known as the basis for expert systems. However, to this point there has been little formal study of their properties as a method of deduction. In this paper we initiate such a study by presenting a rewrite semantics for production rule systems. Such a formalization is both interesting per se as a paradigm for deduction and also useful in providing a formal framework for analyzing properties of production rule systems. We show how to represent production rules as rewrite rules operating on collections of atoms, thereby allowing us to import techniques from equational reasoning (confluence checking and completion, critical pair criteria, termination orderings, etc.). An interesting feature of this representation is the use of symbolic constraints to represent the negation-as-failure interpretation of negative conditions in production rules. Practical applications of this theory provide for the development of a comprehensive environment for verifying and validating the correctness of production rule systems, as well as the development of convergent production rule systems for special applications such as parallel evaluation and real-time control.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Comp. Sci., Boston Univ., Boston, MA

    Wayne Snyder

  2. Dept. of Elec. Eng. & Comp. Sci., Tufts Univ., Medford, MA

    James G. Schmolze

Authors
  1. Wayne Snyder
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  2. James G. Schmolze
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Editor information

M. A. McRobbie J. K. Slaney

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Snyder, W., Schmolze, J.G. (1996). Rewrite semantics for production rule systems: Theory and applications. In: McRobbie, M.A., Slaney, J.K. (eds) Automated Deduction — Cade-13. CADE 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1104. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61511-3_110

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61511-3_110

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61511-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68687-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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