the appendicies. A discussion of the differences between s o m e of the various current dialects of Prolog is also i n cluded. The book has a c o m p l e t e and quite u p - t o - d a t e bibliography. There are a couple of small things that I w o u l d have liked to have seen added to this book. There is no discussion of the various parallel implementations of Prolog. I don't think it would be v e r y difficult to add s o m e discussion about h o w Prolog syntax could be extended to handle concurrency. The book also seems to skirt the issue of h o w s e c o n d - o r d e r predicate calculus problems can be addressed in Prolog. But these are ..small complaints. This is not a good b o o k for studying the theoretical aspects of logic programming. But that is fine, since there are other books that satisfy that need. This is a wonderful introduction to Prolog for the undergraduate or graduate student that wishes to acquire a working knowledge of the language inorder to solve specific problems. It would also be a w o r t h w h i l e addition to the bookshelf of the professional p r o g r a m m e r that would like to find out what logic programming is all about. market predictions quoted in the t e x t are particularly i n t e r sting. G r o w t h rates in the market segments discussed here are predicted to be around 200% in the next year. The next six chapters present as astonishing variety of expert systems and expert s y s t e m tools. The expert system applications have been divided into 40 separate categories within the industrial, commercial, and military domains. For each c a t e g o r y a t e c h n o l o g y assessment, software inventory, current research, and future o u t l o o k is provided. A list of papers, journals and books that can supply the reader with i n - d e p t h i n f o r m a t i o n accompanies each category. Each entry displays its o w n character. One entry might discuss a landmark application and h o w it has set the tone for w o r k in that field. A n o t h e r the difficulties e n countered in automating a particular task. There are o v e r views of what has been accomplish and hints on w h a t n e w directions are being explored. All of this i n f o r m a t i o n is peppered with quotes from experts and predictions from the f o r m o s t companies in the field. When checking the areas with which I am most familliar, I found the entries were complete. The products included are the best known of those being developed. The human experts, both quoted and included as reference, are those currently c o n sidered to be p r o m i n e n t in the field. The final chapter provides the reader with a c o m prehensive list of available compilers for Lisp, PROLOG and a smattering of o b j e c t - o r i e n t e d languages. A couple of useful appendices provide a glossary of AI terms and an alphabetical list of all the suppliers m e n t i o n e d in the text along with their phone numbers and mailing addresses. T w o indexes provide quick access to i n f o r m a t i o n listed by expert system product name and by c o m p a n y name. Generally, I found little to object t o with this book. There were times w h e n I had the impression that the a u thors w e r e not speaking from a depth of knowledge, however, given the bredth of the i n f o r m a t i o n being covered, this is not surprising. I also found that the n u m ber of t y p o s was times v e r y distracting. My final objection is the t e m p o r a r y nature of the book's construction. It is a c o f f e e - t a b l e - b o o k - s i z e d paperback, three inches thick, lighter than air, w h o s e pages are filled with t y p e w r i t e r sized print. One might argue t h a t given the mercurial n a ture of the subject this might seem appropriate, after all, in six months the b o o k will be considered an historical a c count. Still, a m o r e substantial v o l u m e w o u l d have been appreciated. I believe this b o o k will be a useful reference for those involved in a variety of pursuits. In one source, the a u thors have compiled the bulk of the i n f o r m a t i o n needed by students writing class reports, journalists doing background articles, managers giving project justifications, and entrepreneurs developing business plans. It will also provide an excellent v i e w of w h a t is already in the market and clues to where there are needs to be filled. I found it of particular interest to see the wide range of subject areas to which expert systems t e c h n o l o g y is n o w being addressed. EXPERT SYSTEMS 1987 Assessment of Technology and Applications Terri C. Walker and Richard K. Miller SEAl Technical Publications Reviewed by: Elaine Iodice A u t o m a t e d Systems Incorporated 4105 Sorrento Valley Blvd. San Diego, CA 92121 Just a few years ago expert systems emerged from the AI laboratories and quickly became an i m p o r t a n t aspect of the c o m p u t e r industry. Once the province of the universities and a few h i g h - p o w e r e d industrial research centers, expert systems are n o w being applied to a m u l titude of fields. Spurred on by such funding sources as ESPRIT in Europe, ALVEY in the UK and the 5th Generation Project in Japan, AI has not only made its way into the market through its offspring expert systems, but shows every sign of becoming a major g r o w t h area in the next decade. From just a handful of companies in 1983, the n u m b e r of companies n o w involved in the d e v e l o p m e n t of expert systems has g r o w n exponentially. This g r o w t h is no m o r e evident than in the history of the publication b e ing reviewed here. SEAl published their first Inventory of Expert Systems in January of 1984. At that time there were 136 programs. The 1986 publication listed 475. In 1987 that n u m b e r has m o r e than doubled. Expert Systems '87 is a hefty survey of the current c o m m e r c i a l and research states of the art of expert s y s tems development. Its 772 pages present 40 areas t o which expert systems are currently being applied by c o m panies and schools here and abroad. It describes not o n l y applications of expert systems, but also tools with which t o run them, and languages in which to program them. The first t w o chapters of the b o o k are devoted to d i s cussing various aspects of AI t e c h n o l o g y and some of the issues involved in the design of e x p e r t systems. Most of this early material is brief and o b v i o u s l y not intended to be a c o m p r e h e n s i v e discussion of the topics. However, it should provide the essential background information necessary t o make what f o l l o w s understandable. Extensive bibliographies at the ends of sections and chapters provide ample direction for further investigation if desired. The authors address all of t h e current t e c h n o l o g i e s being applied to both the hardware and software fields. The SIGART N e w s l e t t e r , April 1988, I~lumber 104 Page 16

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