SPEEDS: an approach to support programming environments using expert database systems

Abstract

Programming decisions, such as scheduling, planning and coordinating, are made in every type of organization. In situations where these decisions are made by an expert who uses information contained in large databases, it could be advantageous for the organization to employ an expert system coupled with a database to assist in the decision process. This thesis proposes an approach for building expert database systems to support programming environments. To test this approach, a prototype expert database system is developed for a typical programming environment at a classical music radio station that employs experts to select music. The process of acquiring and representing the expert knowledge and the development, testing and implementation of the prototype are discussed in the context of this case study. The lessons learned in the development of this expert database system are also presented.