---
title: "Knowledge Acquisition for Constructive Systems"
authors:
  - "Sandra Marcus"
  - "John P. McDermott"
  - "Tianran Wang"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/123"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/0123.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1985
pages: "637-638"
track: "Learning and Acquisition"
keywords:
---

# Knowledge Acquisition for Constructive Systems

Sandra Marcus, John P. McDermott, Tianran Wang

*Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 637-638.

## Abstract

Over the past ten years, significant progress has been made in understanding how the knowledge acquisition pro~ess .tor classification systems can be automated . But dunng th1s penod little attention has been paid to the problem of how to automate the knowledge acquisition process for systems that solve problems by constructing solutions. This paper descnbes SALT, a tool designed to assist with knowledge acqu1S1!1on for configuration tasks. SAL T 1 assumes a problem -solving strategy involving stages of generate, test, backup, mod1fy, a~d regenerate. It exploits this problem -solving strategy to gu1de 1ts interrogation of domain experts and to represent the knowledge they provide in a way that insures it will be brought to bear whenever relevant.