Table Of ContentVERIFICATION and
VALIDATION of
RULE-BASED EXPERT
SYSTEMS
VERIFICATION and
VALIDATION of
RULE-BASED EXPERT
SYSTEMS
Suzanne Smith, Ph.D.
Converse College
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Abraham Kandel, Ph.D.
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
Boca Raton London New York
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Libraryof CollgttSSCataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Suzanne, 1953-
Verification and validation of rule-based expert systems I Suzanne Smith, Abraham
Kandel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8493-8902-X
1.Expertsystems(Computerscience)2. Computersoftware--Verification. 3. Computer
software--Validation. I. Kandel, Abraham. II. Title.
QA76.76.E95S66 1993
006.3'3--dc20 93-1553
CIP
LibraryofCongress Card Number93-1553
PREFACE
The objectives of this book are to define verification and
validation for expert systems, to delineate the activities for com
prehensive verification and validation of rule-based expert sys
tems, and to present a comprehensive set of techniques and tools
for the verification and validation of rule-based expert systems.
Our strategy in accomplishing these objectives is to adapt the
concepts of verification and validation in conventional software for
use in the verification and validation of rule-based expert systems
and to specify new methods, techniques, or tools for verification
and validation where the uniqueness of rule-based expert systems
demands them. Currently, verification and validation of expert
systems are informal, subjective, time-consuming, tedious, and
arbitrary in both the creation and execution of test cases. In this
book, we present a systematic, comprehensive approach to the
verification and validation of rule-based expert systems. Addition
ally, a complete set of techniques and tools, which provides a
more formal, objective, and automated means of verifying and
validating rule-based expert systems, is described.
Suzanne Smith
Abraham Kandel
May, 1993
THE AUTHORS
Suzanne Smith, Ph.D., received her B.Sc. in Education from
Baylor University, M.A. in Education from Vanderbilt University,
M.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Southwestern Loui
siana, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Florida State Univer
sity. Dr. Smith is currently an Assistant Professor at Converse
College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She has been a software
engineer at Lockheed Missiles & Space, a visiting professor at the
Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and
at Florida A&M University, and a faculty member at East Tennessee
State University. Professional memberships include ACM, IEEE,
and the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges.
Abraham Kandel, Ph.D., received his B.Sc. in Electrical
Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology,
M.Sc. from the University of California, and Ph.D. in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science from the University of New
Mexico. Dr. Kandel is a Professor and Endowed Eminent Scholar
in Computer Science and Engineering and is Chairman of the
Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Univer
sity of South Florida. Previously, he was Professor and Chairman
of the Computer Science Department at Florida State University as
well as the Director of the Institute of Expert Systems and Robotics
at FSU and the Director of the State University System Center for
Artificial Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of the
ACM, and an Advisory Editor to the international journals Fuzzy
Sets and Systems, Information Sciences, Expert Systems, and Engi
neering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Kandel has pub
lished over 250 technical research papers and 19 books in com
puter science and engineering.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION0 ............................................................... ............3
I Quality Assurance for Expert Systems.................................3
U. Background to Expert Systems ..............................................4
T5L Conventional Software and Expert Systems ......................7
]V. A Preview of the Work .............................................. ............ 9
V. Organization of the Book ................................................. 10
2 THE PRODUCTION OF QUALITY SOFTWARE0 .................15
I Introduction .............................................................................15
j. Definition of Quality Software............................................. 16
hl Attributes of Quality Software ............................................ 17
]V. Approaches to Achieving Quality Software................... 20
A Software Engineering Nfethodologies ........................ 20
B. Software Quality Assurance ...........................................22
C Independent Verification and Validation.....................24
D. Software Reviews .............................................................24
E Formal Proof of Correctness...........................................25
F. Quality lYfetrics............................................................... 26
G. Configuration Management ......................................... 26
