on Facebook
on Twitter
on YouTube
Document Information
Self-Revealing Software
A Method for Producing Understandable Systems
System self-explanation is critical for the construction, utility, acceptance, and maintenance of complex, knowledge-based software. This paper presents a new methodology and implementation techniques that enable software systems to explain their knowledge and reasoning, i.e., to become "self-revealing." The theory addresses the spectrum of explanation goals and is applicable to complex and unstructured domains and to general control structures. The method, called REVEAL, represents the culmination of research and experimentation with new explanation techniques conducted as part of the development of a legal expert system, SAL (System for Asbestos Litigation). SAL adheres to the design philosophy of REVEAL and utilizes many of the associated techniques. Throughout the dissertation, the theoretical concepts are demonstrated by examples of their implementation in SAL.
Support RAND Research — Buy This Product!
Paperback Cover Price: $35.00
Discounted Web Price: $31.50
Pages: 138
Free, downloadable PDF file(s) are available below.
RAND makes an electronic version of this document available for free as a public service. If you find this information valuable, please consider purchasing a paper copy of the full document to help support RAND research.
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher for the best experience.
This product is part of the RAND paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
Top
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2009 RAND Corporation. Last Modified: September 04, 2009 