D. MICHIE and J. S.COLLINS

Artificial intelligence and man-machine com-munication are of great interest to the youngergeneration of computer people. A diploma inmachine intelligence can now be gained at Edin-burgh University.

Postgraduate training in machineintelligenceA change has been taking place in attitudes to artificialintelligence research. At one time regarded as an esotericpursuit, it now has an unmistakeable aura of impendingpracticality. There could be no truer testimonial to this thanthe appearance of advertisements placed by large computermanufacturers calling for senior programmers "to write soft-ware in such advanced fields as artificial intelligence, infor-mation retrieval and computer-aided design", to quote acurrent example.

This development could have been, and in fact was,predicted some years ago. The attitudes and enthusiasms ofthe young are sometimes a surer guide to the shape of thingsto come than the pre-occupations of their elders. Thereforewhen in 1964 the Science Research Council (then the DSIR)

commissioned one of us [1 ] to make a survey of the state ofresearch in computing science in British Universities, adecision was taken to concentrate especially on the activitiesand views of those under 40. A very remarkable conclusionemerged, or at least it seemedremarkable at the time (anotherconclusion, that the then provision of computers in Univer-sities was pitifully inadequate was obvious from the start).This was the existence of an overwhelming swing of interestinto two specialized and closely related fields among thefourteen fields distinguished in our classification. These twofields were artificial intelligence and man-machine communi-cation.

No one doubts the need, as a matter of technologicalurgency, for vigorous efforts to build up University training

Dr Collins supervising an on-line pro-gramming class. Using the POP-2 time-sharing software, 8 students have simul-taneous access to an Elliott 4120 computer.

228 THE COMPUTER BULLETIN

Serial

11

12

Conclusion

DECEMBER 1967

Brain Computer

Thought Process Type ofThought Levels Operation Program Type Levels

Day dreaming. A semi-off-line fea-ture occurring at theupper levels of thesubconscious oftenaided by the con-scious level.

4 Entirely divorcedfrom normal compu-ter operations. Car-ried outbythe systemsanalyst and program-mers. This represents'The ExploitationTask'. Mayuse PERTroutines.

Program testing and PERTas a separate full routine.

55This is the process

by which the brainarrives at the bestfuture course ofaction for the indi-vidual.

6?78

Mentalderangement Occurs as the result 1 The indication of derange-ment in a computer iseither 'looping' when thecomputer cannot get out ofa particular sub-routine(this may be a small orlarge loop), or gibberishbeing output.

1of toto

8 8a) Failure ofmemory

unit.a) Error in program

at any level.

b) Failure of onevital memory cell.

b) Wrong Program(not properlytested). The range ofpossible failure

is very great.c) Connexion

failure.c) Wrong data.

d) The storage of d) Connex ion orswitch failure.'misconceptions'

due to tendencyfaults.

e) Combination of e) Indicator failure.two or more ofthese reasons.

linking of super-computers to enable them to share thesefacilities and the development ofkey boards for easy inputand selection of program linked to visual displays, and theimmediate availability of the printed word, point the way tothe computer which has the ability of a brain to call onprogram at will or even create it for a definite purpose on theone hand, and the ability to store the mass of necessary dataon the other.

All advance made by man is accomplished by thoughtoccurring on two planes, where experience on one is marriedto that on another. To think of one subject in terms ofanother is to use analogy. It is therefore not too much tosay that advance in knowledge comes from the applicationof analogies. The brain is clearly analogous to the computerin certain definite areas and a comparison ofthe mechanismsis likely to be advantageous to students of both.

As the mechanism of computers is understood, whilst thebrain is understood but little, first advances from the drawingof such analogies are likely to fall to medicine rather thancomputing technology. Such benefits are likely to be repaida thousand fold when the brain is sufficiently understood.It is likely therefore to be of long-term advantage to comput-ing, for present day systems designers to keep themselves

informed on all subjects where analogies can be readilydrawn.

The most likely area of benefit to computing is to studythe ways by which experience can be used to create or modifyprogramthrough the use of compiler programs being broughtinto use. This subject is likely to be of greater interest tois likely to be of greater interest tousers of super-computers, where such libraries could beestablished. The need to introduce standard memoryorganizations for particular tasks is clear from this study.Such a procedure is a long way ahead of us yet, but is vitalto the introduction of such compilers.

ABOUT THE AUTHORLt. Col. J.A. Burton, AMBIM, Mlnst PS, is aged 48 and was edu-cated at Highgate and Sandhurst. He trained as ammunition andexplosives expert at the Military College of Science. Gravitating tocomputing in 1958, he specialized in installing new systems for theArmy. After 28 years Army service he recently joined WilliamKey and Partners as computer staff consultant.

227

229DECEMBER 1967

programmes. Armies ofhighly qualified people will be neededin an increasingly computer-basedworld. Within suchtrainingprogrammes a place clearly exists for specialized courses toproduce the sort of people which the manufacturer's adver-tisement quoted above is seeking to locate. There may there-fore be some value in describing, at this early stage, thefirst year's experience with a new post-graduate coursedevoted to this field.

Edinburgh University's Diploma in Machine IntelligenceStudies can be gained on the basis of one year's full-timestudy. The topics covered by the lectures and tutorial classesfall into two categories

1 instruction in basic techniques and tools of the craft - theelements of logic, set theory, probability, statistics, graphtheory, linguistics, game theory, information theory, formalsemantics and the theory and practice of programming;2 acquaintance with contemporary research in such areas aspattern-recognition, computational linguistics, automaticproblem-solving, theorem-proving, game-playing, adaptivedecision-taking, deductive fact retrieval and question-answering systems.

During the course each student has three fairly demandingprogramming exercises to complete, one in assembly code,one in ALGOL and one in POP-2[2]. These are run by theexaminers on the machine with the aid of the documentationprovided. In addition each student engages on a researchproject as the basis of a written thesis. It may perhaps beuseful, as a compressed way of conveying the nature of thediploma, to reproduce the written examination, programming

exercises and project work which were set for this first year'sdiploma, as shown in the appendix to this article.

In the comingyear the scope is to be broadened to includethe processing of visual information by brains and machines.In this we take advantage of the accession to the departmentofR. L. Gregory and his Bionics Research Laboratory fromCambridge. We are also responding to the fact that muchresearch effort in the next phase is bound to be concernedwith the design and programming of adequate sense organsfor intelligent machines.

References1 Michie D. Computing science: report preparedfor the Research

Grants Committee of the Science Research Council London: SRC,19652 Burstall R. M. and Popplestone R. J. The POP-2 referencemanual Machine Intelligence 2, pages 207-246, E. Dale andD. Michie (eds), Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1967

ABOUT THE AUTHORSDr Michie is Professor of Machine Intelligence in the Universityof Edinburgh's recently established Department of MachineIntelligence and Perception. After an active career as an experi-mental biologist, he returned after 1960 to his earlier interest inmachine learning, and was visiting Associate Professor of Elec-trical Engineering at Stanford and Royal Society Visiting Lecturerin Russia. He is the author of some 80 publications in the fieldsof genetics, reproduction, immunology and computer science.

Dr Collins is Lecturer and Director of Studies in the new De-partment. His special interest is the design and development oftime-shared conversational systems and special peripheralhardware for them. He is the author, with Dr M. Almond, of'Principles of ALGOL 60 programming'.

Written examination, programming exercises and projects for University ofEdinburgh Diploma in Machine Intelligence Studies 1966-67

APPENDIX

WRITTEN EXAMINATION PAPER 1

Part I

Thefollowing 20 questions must be completed by the end ofthefirst hour, at which time Part I will be collected by the invigi-lators. In each case you must place a tick in the box against theanswer which you judge to be correct.

1 IfA = {1,2, {1, 2], 3}B = {1,2, 3}C= {1,2}which of the following statements is false?

□C 6 A□C S A|C G B

□ C __ B

2 The value of the ALGOL 60 arithmetic expression

false then 3 x 8 f 2/2 t 32 t - 3 else 8/1/2is

□ 4□ 16□ o

3 Which of the following statements is true for all possibletruth values ofA and Bl□ if/1 then B else true = A => B□ if A then B else false = Avß

□ if A then true else B = A\B

4 The effect of the ALGOL blockbegin integer n;

end;

is to assign a value to the non-local variable z.What is this value?

□ 4□ 6□ 3

5 A re-entrant subroutinecan be called from anywhere in the program

| can be used by several users at the same timeis defined in terms of itself.

if 0 - 8-25 a true => -3 > 5-28 =~] — 3 <5-28 v

real procedure /(x, y);real x, y;begin n: = n + 1;

/"■ = x + J-

n: = 1;z: = fin, ii)z: = z + n

end

230 THE COMPUTER BULLETIN

6 A compiler translates

□ from source code to machine codej from assembly code to machine code

Q from source code to assembly code.

A stack is alast-in first-out device

Q last-in last-out devicej first-in first-out device.

A computer operating system is used torelieve the human operator of routine tasks

j enable high level languages such as ALGOL 60 to beused

| enable magnetic tape to be used.

A zero-sum game is one in which| there are only two possible outcomes, 'win' and 'lose'j for every possible outcome, the value of this outcome

to the opening player is the negative of its value tohis opponent

| the effect of every move is fully determined, with norandom element intervening at any stage.

The 'a/3 heuristic' of McCarthy is| a method of cutting down the amount of tree-search

during minimaxing| optimization of the parameters of a game-learning

program by letting the program play against itselfQ the use of list-structures to store sets of linked sub-

goals.

The 'critical path' in a network analysis, of a buildingoperation for example, is the

[_] shortest path(s)longest path(s)path with the largest number of nodes on it.

The transportation problem in Linear Programming isconcerned with optimization subject to linear constraintequationson availableand requiredresources. The optimalsolution

16 let iter(f, list, a) =if null (list) then a else iter (f, tl(list),f(a, hd(list)));

If clock is a function from epochs and time intervals ontoepochs and times is a list of time intervals and AD 1066 isan epoch then iter(clock, times, AD1066) is

| an epochj a time interval

□ an ill-formed expression.

17 IfNis the set ofnon-negative integers and is the successorfunction which one of the following statements is false?□ (VneN) (imeN) n#o => n = s(m)

j (V/ie/V) (Vme/V) m>nv n > m(VneN) (VemN) m < n ■=> P(m) a P(0) => P(n)

18 A queue is being served at a rate equal to the average rateof new arrivals.As time passes, the length of the queue□ averages 1

j averages less than 1| tends to infinity.

19 The set of positive integer functions computable byChurch's A calculus corresponds with the set of positiveinteger functions computable by

| finite state machines| Turing machines| context-free phrase structure grammars.

20 Which one of the following syntactic definitions of (si) inBNF gives an unambiguous parsing of all legal examples?

□ <s>::=a|<s><s>□ <s>::=<x><s>|<y><s>|b

<x>:: =c |e

Part II

Answer any THREE of the following FIVE questions

1 Compare and contrast the various properties and meritsof compilers and interpreters. Give examples of appli-cations for which one method is better than the other andvice versa.

2 There is a sense in which the outcome of a two-persongame like Nim, Chess, or Go, is a foregone conclusion.Explain what is meant by this and give an outline proof.Could the 'foregone conclusion theorem' be of practicaluse in designing a game-playing program?

3 Describe either the General Problem Solver program orthe Graph Traverser program. What do you feel are themain shortcomings of the program you have described?Do you think that any of these shortcomings could bemade good either by a) giving the program learningcapabilities or by b) arranging on-line interaction betweenthe program and its user ? Justifyyour opinions as solidlyas you can.

4 Describe the organization and performance of any two ofthe following programs. What do you think were theresearch objectives involved ? Were they achieved ?

a) The Graph Isomorphism Tester written by S. Unger.b) SAINT, the symbolic integration program written

by J. R. Slagle.

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

<y> : : =d I e

□ <s>::=f|g<s>h

I can always be represented as a tree| is uniqueI is found by solving a sequence of sub-problemsI is found by iterating from an initial feasible solution

to the problem.

The function b defined byb{p, q) = if p then true else q

isand

| impliesJ or.

rhe expression[Ax . [A/./(3) + f(\ + x)](Ax . x2)] (3)

lias value3 253 303\ something else.

rhe operation intersection between sets is| commutative but not associative| associative but not commutative

both associative and commutative.

a

231DECEMBER 1967

c) The program written by T. Evans to recognizeanalogies between geometric figures.

d) The pattern recognition program ofL. Uhr and C.Vossler which 'generates, evaluates and adjusts its ownoperators'.

5 The list processing functions hd, tl, cons, and null and theempty list nil satisfy

The following three functions act on the back of a listbhd(u) = if null(tl(u)) then hd(u) else bhd(tl(u));btl(u) --= if null(tl(u)) then nil else cons (hd(u), btl(tl(u)));bcons(u,v) = if null(v) then cons(u,nil)

else cons(hd(v), bcons(tt,tl(v)));

You may take the properties ofconditional expressionsfor granted without quoting any axioms.

WRITTEN EXAMINATION PAPER 2

Part I

77i<? following 20 questions must be completed by the end ofthe first hour, at which time Part I will be collected by theinvigilators. In each case, you must place a tick in the boxagainst the answer which you judge to be correct.

1 Which ofthe following statements is true?The sum of two independent random variables eachwith a Chi-square distribution has a Chi-squaredistribution.The product of two independent random variableseach with a Chi-square distribution has a Chi-squaredistribution.The sum of two independentrandom variables eachwith a rectangular distribution has a rectangulardistribution.

2 A random sample is drawn from a la-ge population andclassified into a two-way contingency table which hasfour rows and five columns. We wish to apply the usualChi-square test for independence of the variables ofclassification. How many degrees of freedom are appro-priate when deciding if the Chi-square value obtained issignificant?

□ 19

□ 13□ 12

3 Which of the following statements is true?If a result is significant at the 5% level, then theprobability that the null hypothesis is false is at least0-95.

□ The variance of a binomial distribution is np wheren is the number of trials, and where p is the proba-bility of 'success' in each trial.The t-distribution with n degrees of freedom tendsto the standard normal distribution as n tends toinfinity.

4 Let A be the statementVx3.y P(x, y)

and B be the statement3y Vx P(x, y)Then it can be proved that

6 In Pop-2, PRLISTFUN is a function to print the values ofa lot of functions at a point x. Which of the followingdefinitions will work?

| function prlistfun x list;vars g;«/(i);LO: if list, null then exit

list. hd;-*g; pr(g(x)); sp(2);list, delist; goto LO

end1 function prlistfun x list ;

varsg-;lambda list; if list, null then nil exit

prlistfun (list, tl)end

(%x, list %);->g',pr(g(x))

end| function prlistfun x list;

vars g ;«/(D;LO: if list, null then exit

pr(hd(list(x))); sp(2); list, tl^listgoto LO

end

7 InPOP-2, which of the following is the correct definitionof the function FUNPROD, which takes two functionsas arguments and produces as result the function productof them.

| function funprodfg ;

endQ function funprodfg ;

lambda xfg; g(f(x)) end (%/, g%)end

Q function funprodfg;lambda fg x;

*(/"(*))end (%f,g%)

end

(1) null(nil) = true(2) null(cons(x,y)) = false(3) hd(cons(x,y)) = x(4) tl(cons(x,y)) = y(5) If x is not null then

cons(hd(x), tl(x)) = x

Show that they satisfy(2') null(bcons(x,y)) = false(3') blul(bcons(x,y)) = x(4) btl(bcons(x,y)) = y

[Hint: The functionsfirst (x,y) = xsecond(x,y) = y may be of use. ]

□ A<=>B□ B=>A□ A^B

5 A resolvent of the clauses~\(x> y)v~](y > z)vx> z

andf(a) > g(a)

is□ -|(*>*(«))v(/(«)>*)D lW«)>/(«))vl(/(a)>j{«))

t»

232

8 In POP-2,

□ 7D 4

□ [3 + 4,5/2]□ [7,2-5]

10 Two common means for generating lines in a line-drawingdisplay are the stroke and binary-rate-multiplier methods.Which of the following statements about the advantagesofthe stroke method is true?

□ it is faster and gives instantaneous position read-outfor the attached computer

□ it is slower but gives instantaneous positionread-outit is faster but does not give instantaneous positionread-out.

11 The number of points in a flicker-free picture plotted on atypical point-plotting display is about□ 1,500

□ 7,000

□ 15,000

12 The average amount of information needed to specifythe score obtained by throwing a pair of ordinary dice is\~] log 2 36 bits

log 2 36 - (1/36) log2 (2* x36 x48 x 5 10 x 66) bits| (1/36) loga (12!/6!6!) bits.

13 In a game of Twenty Questions the questioner is told thatexactly one of the answers will be false. By an optimalchoice of his questions he can secure[2 19 bits of information

-20 (log(l/20) + 19 log (19/20)) bits

□ 18 - loga 5 bits.

14 A multi-access system must have some schedulingalgorithm to

□ handle messages to and from the on-line consoles| decide who is to run next when more than one user is

waiting

□ prevent one user from hogging the machine.

15 Multi-programming implies that

□ many consoles are attached to the machinethere can be several jobs in the course of execution atone time.

□ jobs are batched on magnetic tape or disc prior torunning.

16 A bag contains 1 1 coins of which 5 are unbiased, 5 have a3:1 bias in favour of heads and one is double headed.

A coin taken from the bag at random is tossed 9 timesand comes down 'heads' each time. The probability thatcloser inspection of this coin would show it to be double-headed is

more than 90%between 50% and 90%

□ odds against.

17 How many of the following relations are transitive:below, near, father, brother

□ 2□ 3□ 4

18 The first order functional calculus allows quantificationoverQ predicatesQ functions

neither.

19 An interpretation of a theory is said to be a model for it if\~] the axioms are true in the interpretation

j every statement which is true in the interpretationis provable

(_] the interpretation is consistent.

20 Association lists (description lists) in list processinglanguages are analogues to

□ ALGOL Boolean procedures

□ ALGOL arraysj ALGOL switches.

Part II

Answer any THREE of the following SIX questions

1 Two machines are under trial in a factory. We want tokeep the machine which produces the fewest defectivearticles, and send the other one back. The sooner weterminate testing the better, as we are paying a heavyrental on both machines during the trial period. We wantthe probability of guessing wrong to be equal to or lessthan p, in the case that there is a real difference of at leastd between the two defect rates. If the difference is lessthan d we do not care about guessing wrong. Design apolicy based on the Sequential Probability Ratio Test forconducting the needed testing and discuss the principlesinvolved. Should the policy be modified if the penalty ofproducing a defective article were very high relative to thecost of continuing testing?

2 Describe and illustrate the use ofa) the factorial representationb) the combinatorial representation of given nome.Give algorithms to generate the representing digits of

a) and b), and prove the uniqueness of their digits.Show how a partition may be associated with a permu-

tation and hence derive its period. Describe a method forgenerating all permutations of n symbols and arranging

them in order of conjugacy classes of the group Sn.What limitations are imposed by the word length andcapacity of the computer?

3 Describe briefly the essentials of three of the followingtopics. For each topic you choose, explain any specialimportance it may have for machine intelligence work.

a) Pseudo-random number generation on a computerb) The analysis of variancec) Cluster analysisd) Bayes' formula and postulate.

4 Describe one of the following deduction programs ex-plaining its capabilities and limitations and outlining itsmethod of working

THE COMPUTER BULLETIN

[[1 2][3 4]]-A;HD(TL(HD(A))) + A. TL. HD. HD =>

will produce as output

□ 5

9 In POP-2,[% 3 + 4, 5/2 %] =>

will produceD 7,2-5

A ' *

233DECEMBER 1967

a) SIR (Raphael)b) DEDUCOM (Slagle)c) SIMPLE SIMON (Safier).

5 POP-2 is designed as a language for machine intelligencework. The following factors seemed important in such alanguage.

a) It should be an on-line language.b) It should be reasonably efficient in the use of storeand machine time.c) It should have a powerful function structure and beable to manipulate complex data structures.d) It should be fairly easy to implement.Which of these factors impose contradictory demands

on the design and implementation of a language, and towhat extent do you feel that POP-2 maintains the correctbalance among these demands.

6 Give a description of the PDP 8 computer in terms ofIverson notation and explain the meaning of the notationyou use.

PROGRAMMINGEXERCISES IN NEAT ASSEMBLY CODE

Write a NEATprogram for ONE of the following tasks,document it and demonstrate it on the machine.

1 Write subroutines for input, output and basic arithmeticoperations on double-length integers stored as two words.Use the subroutines to compute and print factorials up to15!2 Write a program to read and store a series of words

containing up to four letters each. Sort the words intodictionary order and print the resulting list.

3 Write input and output routines for duo-decimal numbers.Use the output routine to print a set of duo-decimal tables.4 Write an input subroutine to read angles in the following

formsdegrees/minutes/seconds eg 25/16/30degrees/minutes, decimal part of minutes eg 25/16.5degrees/minutes/seconds, decimal part of seconds eg

25/16/30.35degrees.decimal part of degrees eg 25.275R radians. decimal part of radians eg R0.1447

Store angles internally as radians in floating-point numberrepresentation.

5 Write a program to read a data tape containing codedinformation about a wiring layout (eg RY(17,33) means thata red and yellow wire connects pin 17 with pin 33). Theprogram must check that no pin has wires of different coloursattached to it and in no case more than 3 wires. It must alsocheck that no connection is specified twice.

6 Write a program to read text and count the number ofoccurrences of a given word or words. This process is knownas concordance analysis.

7 Write a program to 'plot' a specified function of twovariables on the line printer.

8 Write a pair of programs one of which codes a messageinto an unintelligible form and a second which unscramblesit and prints it on the line printer.

9 Write a program to read data which indicates YES/NOanswers for the following 4 questions for a number of indi-viduals

Male/FemaleOver 30/Under 30

Urban/RuralApprove/Disapprove

The program should code the information for each indi-vidual in 4 bits and pack the information 6 individuals to a24 bit word. Having stored the information, the percentageof approvals should be printed for all 8 combinations of theother three answers.10 Write a program to read simple statements of the form

andprint out the corresponding NEATcode forthe statement.In this case the output might be

MULS CADD B

ST AThe program should deal with addition, subtraction, division,multiplication and parentheses. No attempt need be made tomake the output program particularly efficient.

PROGRAMMING EXERCISES IN ALGOLWrite an ALGOL program for ONE of the following tasks,document it and demonstrate it on the machine.

1 Write a program to solve a cryptarithmetic problem of thetype

CAREER

2 Write a program to play noughts and crosses by mini-maxing.

3 Write a program to find a knight's tour between specifiedsquares on a chess board with specified squares blocked.4 Write procedures to carry out the basic arithmetic opera-

tions on integers represented by a number of decimal digitsin an array. The decimal digits 0 to 9 will be represented byarray elements of value 0 to 9. Use these procedures tocalculate 77 to 20 decimal places. A rapidly converging seriesis recommended.

5 Write a program to invert a real matrix. Test it by in-verting a matrix twice and comparing the result with theoriginal matrix. Determine how sensitive the inverted matrixis to small perturbations in the original matrix and henceassess the accuracy of the process.

6 Write a program to generate random sentences from agiven phrase structure grammar. The sentences shouldoptionally be tagged with their syntactic description.7 Write a program to solve the Eight puzzle using a search

process.8 Simulate the process of queueing in a cafeteria. Show how

through-put depends on the spacing of servers.9 Simulate traffic behaviour at the intersection of two

2-lane roads with no turns allowed. Test the model firstassuming priority on the right and then with priority on theleft. Assume that each quarter of the intersection area willhold just one vehicle.10 Simulate the process of a number of users trying to getjobs done on one computer. Determine how turn-aroundtime depends upon the saturation of the machine and anypriority given to short jobs.

A =B + C* (X - Y)

LD XSUB Y

KDF 9 +KDN2 +KDF 6 +KDPIO

" *

THE COMPUTER BULLETIN234

PROGRAMMING EXERCISES IN POP-2Write a POP-2 program for ONE of the following tasks,document it and demonstrate it on the machine.

1 Write a program to store and retrieve data items held in atree structure sorted in such a way that an item can beaccessed rapidly. Assume that each data item is a list whosefirst element is an integer which may be used as a sort key.Theprogram should be able to reorganize the tree to improveaccess after a number of items have been read.2 Write a program to test the truth of a statement of

propositional calculus read in as a fully bracketed expressionusing the prefix NOT and the infixes AND, OR, IMPLIES.Use the method given in Carnap, Introduction to SymbolicLogic.

3 Write a program to read a Markov algorithm and a datastring andproduce the corresponding output string (assumingthat the algorithm terminates). See Markov Theory ofAlgorithms or Curry Foundations ofMathematicalLogic.4 Write a program to learn to classify bit patterns ofup to

20 bits by making a tree of lists on individual bits. Aresponseis made by the program to each pattern (say about 10possible responses). If the response is wrong the correctresponse is given and the program adds another test chosenat random to the system (compare Feigenbaum's EPAMsystem).

5 Write a program with an associative list memory toaccept sentences of the form

(datum) : : = (noun) is (adjective). | (noun) is not(adjective). ](noun)(verb)(noun>.and answers questions of the form

(query) :: = what (description list).where (description list) :: =(description) and (description)

| (description)where (description) :: = is (adjective) [is not (adjective)

|(verb)(noun>eg dog is big. dog eats meat.

what is big and eats meat.DOG

6 Write amarriage bureau program to read data ofthe form<datum> :: = (proper name)(adjective) | (adjective) is

incompatible with(adjective) [ marry | clear

and produce any list of name pairs which are not incom-patible when told 'marry' and clear its memory when told'clear'.

7 Write a program to play the game Kalah with any verysimple strategy (cfStanford Technical Memoranda).

8 Write a program to allow on-line editing of list structures(assume circular lists are not allowed).

9 Write a program to play n dimensional noughts andcrosses on-line with a A>move lookahead (assume k will besmall eg 1 or 2). Assume the dimensionality is small enoughto cause no storage problems.10 Write a program to accept genealogical data

(datum) :: = (name) is (rel) of (name),where (rel) :: = son [ daughter/mother/father.

and answers questions ofthe form(query) : : =is (name) the (famrel) of (name).where (famrel) :: = nephew/niece/uncle/aunt/cousin

son I daughter | mother | fathergrandson | granddaughter | grand-mother [ grandfatherancestor | descendant

PROJECTSEach Diploma student attempts a project to be written upand submitted as a thesis. The following list summarizes theprojects undertaken during the 1966-67 session.

1 Working on part of a question-answering project toproduce a conversational program which will draw elemen-tary inferences from facts given to it.2 Investigating a simulated automaton with special regard

to visual perception.3 Development of Slagle's ideas for DEDUCOM 2: a

deductive question-answering system usingresolution.4 Investigatingthe possibilities ofcomputer-generated verse.5 Investigating methods of improvement by the Graph

Traverser of its own evaluation function. This is an extensionto the Graph Traverser program, which in its present formuses a fixed evaluation function, supplied by the user, toguide its search for problem solutions.

Parliamentary answers of interestNational Computer GridOn 26 October Mr Brooks asked the Postmaster-General whatproposals he has for the establishment ofa National Comput-ing Grid, based upon multi-access computing, to assist in therational planning of the British economy.

Mr Edward Short: A national computer grid is one of theaims of the National Data Processing Service which I am nowsetting up. The basis of the grid will be the 20 large moderncomputers which my Department expects to have for its ownpurposes by 1971, augmented by other computers as demandmay require. Multi-access facilities will be available on manyof these computers.

The Post Office's data transmission facilities are already inextensive use and are being increased in scope. Existingfacilities permit connection to multi-access computers either

over the public network or by means of specially rentedcircuits.

I believe that the increasing use of these facilities will con-tribute materially to business efficiency generally.

Technological Development (Scotland)Mr Hector Hughes asked the Minister of Technology if he willstate his plans for developing the computer industry and othermodern scientific inventions for the benefit of the trade,industry, commerce and employment of Scotland, with par-ticular reference to North-Last Scotland.

Mr Fowler: My right hon. Friend's plans for encouragingmodern technological development will benefit the wholecountry, including Scotland, where several computer andelectronic firms already have factories.