first edition, first print	In English
ISBN: 0-672-21785-6 (Fennica) (HelMet) (Kirjastot.fi) (Library of Congress) LCCN: 80-53270 (Library of Congress)	Publisher: Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc. 1981

Artificial intelligence is the capability of device to perform functions normally associated with human intelligence, such as game playing, problem solving, reasoning, creativity, and verbal communication. Now, with the aid of this book, a small computer with extended BASIC, and some knowledge of the BASIC language, you can conduct interesting and exciting experiments in artificial intelligence.

The book begins with a general discussion of artificial intelligence, its scope, and its problem areas. A short BASIC program that involves moving a chess king on a small chessboard is used to illustrate the discussion. Game-playing programs, with a checkers-playing program as the major topic, are covered in the secod chapter. Problem solving is deealt with next, and a program to predic a human player's choices is given. Resoning in computers is tehn explained primariuly by means of a program which stores data and makes deductions from this data. Creativity is treated next, int eh form of computer poetry and computer-generated prose. Finally, natural-language processing, or verbal communication, is exemplified in the program DOCTOR, which simulates a psychiatrist's counsel. An appendix is provided to enable the reader to convert the book's Microsoft Level II BASIC to other BASIC dialects.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Artificial Intelligence and BASIC	7
The Scope of AI -- Problem Areas of AI Programming -- KINGMOVE
Chapter 2 Game-Playing Programs	17
The Evaluation Function -- Trees and Minimaxing -- Alpha-Beta Algorithm -- CHECKERS
Chapter 3 Problem Solving	29
The Geometric-Analogy Program -- The General Problem Solver -- TF
Chapter 4 Programs That Reason	43
SIR -- The Hypothetical Syllogism -- FETCH
Chapter 5 Computer Verse	59
The Haiku -- HAIKU
Chapter 6 Computer-Generated Text	73
The Building Blocks of a Sentence -- AUTOWRITER
Chapter 7 Natural Language Replies	85
How DOCTOR Generates Its Replies -- Controversy Over DOCTOR -- The Artificial Paranoid -- Undestanding Natural Language -- DOCTOR
Appendix Explanation of Special BASIC Keywords	105
Index	107