AN EXTENDED EXPERT SYSTEM FOR DISPLAY MANAGEMENT IN A CADD SYSTEM

This paper describes a prototype extended expert system, AIDER, which was built to handle the display environment on a CADD package known as AIDS, the Architectural Interactive Design System. It performs by monitoring the flow of information between the user and the various parts of the system. By setting up spontaneous computations (a type of demon) to watch communications between the user, the applications modules, and the data base, AIDER sets current context filters which modify this information with respect to numerical and graphical precision, and the level of detail needed. The AIDER system is successful at managing certain aspects of the display environment; the context mechanism needs further refinement to handle a wider range of drawing tasks. AIDER uses the LISP-based Common-Sense Algorithm system developed by Dr. Charles Rieger at the University of Maryland Department of Computer Science, and works with AIDS, a CADD package developed by Albert C. Martin and Associates of Los Angeles, California.