BIB-VERSION:: CS-TR-v2.0
          ID:: STAN//CS-TR-85-1066
       ENTRY:: May 01, 1995
ORGANIZATION:: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
       TITLE:: Heuristic classification
        TYPE:: Technical Report
      AUTHOR:: Clancey, William J.
        DATE:: June 1985
       PAGES:: 76
    ABSTRACT:: A broad range of well-structured problems--embracing forms of
               diagnosis, catalog selection, and skeletal planning--are
               solved in "expert systems" by the method of heuristic
               classification. These programs have a characteristic
               inference structure that systematically relates data to a
               pre-enumerated set of solutions by abstraction, heuristic
               association, and refinement. In contrast with previous
               descriptions of classification reasoning, particularly in
               psychology, this analysis emphasizes the role of a heuristic
               in routine problem solving as a non-hierarchical, direct
               association between concepts. In contrast with other
               descriptions of expert systems, this analysis specifies the
               knowledge needed to solve a problem, independent of its
               representation in a particular computer language. The
               heuristic classification problem-solving model provides a
               useful framework for characterizing kinds of problems, for
               designing representation tools, and for understanding
               non-classification (constructive) problem-solving methods.
       NOTES:: [Adminitrivia V1/Prg/19950501]
         END:: STAN//CS-TR-85-1066