Representing design alternatives
Daniel G. Bobrow, Ira Goldstein · 1980
Artificial intelligence systems are complex designed artifacts. Techniques used in Al systems to describe structures and to represent alternatives can be used to support the design of the systems themselves. PIE is an experimental personal information environment which provides users with descriptive structures for programs and documents. In PIE, alternative designs for programs and documents are simultaneously viewable in the system through the use of a context structured database. This short paper gives an overview of how the use of these facilities improves the design environment for builders of software systems.