Artificial Intelligence Illuminated (Jones and Bartlett Illuminated Series)

769 Pages·2004·1 MB·English

by  Ben Coppin

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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coppin,Ben.
Artificial intelligence illuminated / by Ben Coppin.--1sted.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7637-3230-3
1. Artificial intelligence. I. Title.
Q335.C586 2004
006.3--dc22
2003020604
3382
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For Erin
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Preface
Who Should Read This Book
This book is intended for students ofcomputer science at the college level,
or students of other subjects that cover Artificial Intelligence. It also is
intended to be an interesting and relevant introduction to the subject for
other students or individuals who simply have an interest in the subject.
The book assumes very little knowledge of computer science, but does
assume some familiarity with basic concepts of algorithms and computer
systems. Data structures such as trees, graphs, and stacks are explained
briefly in this book, but if you do not already have some familiarity with
these concepts,you should probably seek out a suitable book on algorithms
or data structures.
It would be an advantage to have some experience in a programming lan-
guage such as C++ or Java,or one ofthe languages commonly used in Arti-
ficial Intelligence research,such as PROLOG and LISP,but this experience
is neither necessary nor assumed.
Many of the chapters include practical exercises that require the reader to
develop an algorithm or program in a programming language ofhis or her
choice. Most readers should have no difficulty with these exercises. How-
ever,ifany reader does not have the necessary skills he or she simply should
describe in words (or in pseudocode) how his or her programs work,giving
as much detail as possible.
vi Preface
How to Read This Book
This book can be read in several ways.Some readers will choose to read the
chapters through in order from Chapter 1 through Chapter 21.Any chapter
that uses material which is presented in another chapter gives a clear refer-
ence to that chapter, and readers following the book from start to finish
should not need to jump forward at any point,as the chapter dependencies
tend to work in a forward direction.
Another perfectly reasonable way to use this book is as a reference.When a
reader needs to know more about a particular subject,he or she can pick up
this book and select the appropriate chapter or chapters,and can be illumi-
nated on the subject (at least,that is the author’s intent!)
Chapter 12 contains a diagram that shows how the dependencies between
chapters work (Section 12.6.2).This diagram shows,for example,that if a
reader wants to read Chapter 8,it would be a good idea to already have read
Chapter 7.
This book is divided into six parts,each of which is further divided into a
number ofchapters.The chapters are laid out as follows:
Part 1:Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 1:A BriefHistory ofArtificial Intelligence
Chapter 2:Uses and Limitations
Chapter 3:Knowledge Representation
Part 2:Search
Chapter 4:Search Methodologies
Chapter 5:Advanced Search
Chapter 6:Game Playing
Part 3:Logic
Chapter 7:Propositional and Predicate Logic
Chapter 8:Inference and Resolution for Problem Solving
Chapter 9:Rules and Expert Systems
Preface vii
Part 4:Machine Learning
Chapter 10:Introduction to Machine Learning
Chapter 11:Neural Networks
Chapter 12:Probabilistic Reasoning and Bayesian BeliefNetworks
Chapter 13:Artificial Life:Learning through Emergent Behavior
Chapter 14:Genetic Algorithms
Part 5:Planning
Chapter 15:Introduction to Planning
Chapter 16:Planning Methods
Part 6:Advanced Topics
Chapter 17:Advanced Knowledge Representation
Chapter 18:Fuzzy Reasoning
Chapter 19:Intelligent Agents
Chapter 20:Understanding Language
Chapter 21:Machine Vision
Each chapter includes an introduction that explains what the chapter cov-
ers, a summary of the chapter, some exercises and review questions, and
some suggestions for further reading.There is a complete bibliography at
the back ofthe book.
This book also has a glossary,which includes a brief definition of most of
the important terms used in this book.When a new term is introduced in
the text it is highlighted in bold,and most of these words are included in
the glossary.The only such terms that are not included in the glossary are
the ones that are defined in the text,but that are not used elsewhere in the
book.
The use ofthird person pronouns is always a contentious issue for authors
oftext books,and this author has chosen to use he and she interchangeably.
In some cases the word “he”is used, and in other cases “she.”This is not
intended to follow any particular pattern,or to make any representations
about the genders,but simply is in the interests ofbalance.
viii Preface
The first few chapters of this book provide introductory material,explain-
ing the nature of Artificial Intelligence and providing a historical back-
ground, as well as describing some of the connections with other
disciplines.Some readers will prefer to skip these chapters,but it is advis-
able to at least glance through Chapter 3 to ensure that you are familiar
with the concepts of that chapter,as they are vital to the understanding of
most ofthe rest ofthe book.
Acknowledgments
Although I wrote this book single-handedly, it was not without help. I
would like to thank, in chronological order, Frank Abelson; Neil Salkind
and everyone at Studio B; Michael Stranz, Caroline Senay, Stephen
Solomon,and Tracey Chapman at Jones & Bartlett;also a number of peo-
ple who read chapters of the book: Martin Charlesworth, Patrick Coyle,
Peter and Petra Farrell, Robert Kealey, Geoffrey Price, Nick Pycraft, Chris
Swannack, Edwin Young, my parents, Tony and Frances, and of course
Erin—better late than never.
Thanks also to:
The MIT Press for the excerpt from ‘Learning in Multiagent Systems’ by
Sandip Sen and Gerhard Weiss,© 2001,The MIT Press.
The MIT Press for the excerpt from ‘Adaptation in Natural and Artificial
Systems’by John H.Holland,© 1992,The MIT Press.
The MIT Press for the excerpt from ‘The Artificial Life Roots of Artificial
Intelligence’by Luc Steels,© 1994,the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy.
The IEEE for the excerpt from ‘Steps Towards Artificial Intelligence’ by
Marvin Minsky,© 2001,IEEE.
I have attempted to contact the copyright holders ofall copyrighted quotes
used in this book.If I have used any quotes without permission,then this
was inadvertent,and I apologize.I will take all measures possible to rectify
the situation in future printings ofthe book.