THE APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF DEACON TYPE SYSTEMS.
Abstract
Deacon (direct English access and control) is an advanced direct-access type of management information system deriving from a project concerning development of techniques for computing with a computer in essentially unconstrained English. Deacon-type systems respond to instructions and queries concerning the subject matter of their data by appropriately manipulating and organizing the data internally. The clues that guide the organizing activity are the syntactic rules of the language and their semantic transformations. Three examples of Deacon systems are given. The 'Deacon Breadboard Summary' of F. B. Thompson (RM 64TMP-9) accepts queries in English concerning its data base (representing list structures) and responds by printing out the answer. The second Deacon-type system is the on-line computing center for scientific problems of G. J. Culler and B. D. Fried (AD-296 532). The third is 'Sketchpad, a Man-Machine Graphical Communication System' (AFIPS Conference Proceedings, vol. 23, Spring Joint Computer Conference, 1963). Military applications of the systems are discussed, the central nation being organization of otherwise disconnected observations into relevant structures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0608344
Entities
People
- Frederick B. Thompson
Organizations
- General Electric