This paper briefly discusses the following questions: What are the benefits of special-purpose languages? When is a field ready for such a language? Are any parts of our current vision research ready?

The results of a decade of work in Artificial Intelligence have brought us to the threshold of a new phase of knowledge-based programming -- in which we can design computer systems that (1) react reasonably to significantly ...

This working paper describes a collection of LISP programs written to examine the backs of printed circuit boards. These programs find and trace the conductive wires plated on the insulating material. The "pads", or solder ...

A progress report on the work described in Vision Flashes 33 and 43 on recognition of real objects. Emphasis is on the "active" use of knowledge in directing the flow of visual processing.

The intensity at a point in an image is the product of the reflectance at the corresponding object point and the intensity of illumination at that point. We are able to perceive lightness, a quantity closely correlated ...

An approach to vision research is described that combines ideas about low level processing with more abstract notions about the representation of knowledge in intelligent systems. A particular problem, of the representation ...

Since mid July Steve Pauker, Jerome Kassirer, and I (Gerald Jay Sussman) have been observing the diagnostic process of expert physicians with the goal of abstracting the underlying procedures being followed. One purpose ...

The purpose of this short document is to exhibit how a HACKER-like top-down planning and debugging system can be applied to the problem of the design and debugging of simple analog electronic circuits. I believe, and I ...

A quantitative summary is given of the computation that is performed by visual cortex in the cat. Part of this computation seems to be achieved using a sample-and-average technique; some quantitative features of this ...

This paper proposes a new approach to a broad class of recognition problems ranging from medical diagnosis to vision. The features of this approach include a top-down hypothesize-and-test style and the use of a great deal ...

This paper discusses methods for enhancing the learning abilities of the Winston program, first by representing functional properties of the objects considered, and secondly by embedding individual models in a hierarchically ...

This paper briefly describes the processing performed in the course of producing a line drawing from an image obtained through an image dissector camera. The edge-marking pahse uses a non-linear parallel line-follower. ...

The Fourier transform is a convenient tool for analyzing the performance of an image-forming system, but must be treated with caution. One of its major uses is turning convolutions into products. It is also used to transform ...

Marsaglia and Maclaren combined two linear congruential generators in order to produce a pseudo random number sequence uniformly distributed in the range [0,2³⁵]. Their method is a considerable improvement compared with ...

The thesis describes the design and implementation of a PL/I subset compiler which produces a hypothetical stack code as output. The compiler was based on a Pascal compiler developed by N. Wirth and U. Amman of Eidgenössische ...

This memo describes two GT40 programs: URUG, an octal micro-debugger: and VT07, a Datapoint simulator and general display package. There is also a description of the MITAI LISP display slave, and how it uses VT07 as a ...

A computer program is described which operates on a subset of plane geometry. Its performance not only compares favorably with previous computer programs, but within its limited problem domain (e.g. no curved lines ...

The splitting of a problem into subproblems often involves the same variable appearing in more than one of the subproblems. This makes these subproblems dependent upon one another since a solution to one may not qualify ...

This paper describes a proposed mechanical arm control system and some of the lines of thought which led to this design. In particular, the paper discusses the basic systme required in order for the arm to control its ...

This work describes a program, called TOPLE, which uses a procedural model of the world to understand simple declarative sentences. It accepts sentences in a modified predicate calculus symbolism, and uses plausible ...