We're now going to look at production systems as used in Eden.
Before going any further, you need to know how to run Eden. If you
haven't already done so, break off here and read my handout on How
to run Eden. Work through all the examples, making sure you can log in,
start up Eden, run the bug it mentions, and log out. Then come back
here. You may also want to break off and learn how to use the editor, as
described in my handout on Introduction to the editor. Although
this isn't essential yet, you will find it useful because you can then
examine the view window more easily, using the v control command.
You can also examine the source code of the bugs directly, using the Ved
showlib command. So if you feel like it, work through the editor
handout now too.
Let's start by looking at a simple bug, one whose abilities are limited to grabbing and eating those pieces of food within its immediate range of vision. You can demonstrate it by giving the Prolog command
Do that now. You will see that the bug locates and eats the three pieces of food around it, before the life ends and control returns to Prolog.
So far, I've been pretty abstract about how production systems work. It's now time to get more specific. What sort of rules do Eden bugs use? What is their functional architecture of cognition? That is, what sort of conditions can a rule have? How big can short-term memory be? What resolution strategies are there? What can appear on the right-hand side of a rule?