A Synthesis of Language Ideas for AI Control Structures

Abstract

Two well known programming methodologies for artificial intelligence research are compared, the so-called pattern-directed invocation languages and the object-oriented languages. The features and limitations of both approaches are discussed. We show that pattern-directed invocation is a more general formalism, but entails a serious loss of efficiency. We then go on to demonstrate that a language for artificial intelligence research can be created that contains the best features of both approaches.