---
title: "Using Classification as a Programming Language"
authors:
  - "Chris Mellish"
  - "Ehud Reiter"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1993/98"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1993/0098.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1993
pages: "696-702"
track: "Knowledge Representation"
keywords:
---

# Using Classification as a Programming Language

Chris Mellish, Ehud Reiter

*Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 696-702.

## Abstract

Our experience in the IDAS natural language generation project has shown us that IDAS's KLONE-like classifier, originally built solely to hold a domain knowledge base, could also be used to perform many of the computations required by a natural-language generation system; in fact it seems possible to use the classifier to encode and execute arbitrary programs. We discuss IDAS 's classification system and how it differs from other such systems (perhaps most notably in the presence of 'template' constructs that enable recursion to be encoded); give examples of program fragments encoded in the classification system; and compare the classification approach to other AI programming paradigms (e.g., logic programming) .