Shulok, Thomas Aaron2014-03-142014-03-141988-06-05etd-02072013-040120http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40982Expert system technology has produced systems that perform heuristic classification. These systems solve problems of a type determined by the knowledge engineer and the expert at system design time. A "true consultant" on the contrary, applies domain knowledge to solve a problem not previously seen. For example, a graphic design consultant must accept the statement of almost any problem from a client and turn it into a visual design. This thesis reports the successful construction of the first such true consultant for a well-understood domain: the visual design task of chart construction. The system leads a client in a dialogue to define a problem in the client's terms and then maps the problem representation into a knowledge base for constructing charts. Extensions of the technology reported in this thesis may aid the creation of a new class of expert systems.ix, 190 leavesBTDapplication/pdfIn CopyrightLD5655.V855 1988.S435Computer-aided designExpert systems (Computer science)Thesishttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-02072013-040120/