Glossary:
Case
A collection of answers to the questions that a specific structured
matcher asks. It may be thought of as a particular scenario.
Child
A simple matcher that is used by another simple matcher in the structured
matcher tree.
Expert
A person who has domain knowledge in a subject or field who creates
the structured matcher and puts this knowledge into it to make an expert
system.
Matching Algorithm
Starting at the first row, it gets an answer for each column in order.
If all the answers fit the matching conditions for the row, then return
the result for that row. This uses short circuit logic ( ie if any
of the columns fail to fit the matching condition it drops to the next
row with out checking any further columns ). If no rows are found
to match for all columns then neutral is returned for that simple matcher.
Matching Condition
Consist of a value and relationship pair. An answer is compared
to the value using the relationship. If the result is true, then
the matching condition has been met, or else it has failed.
Parent
A node that calls subsequent nodes for information needed to resolve
the current node.
PlugableDataType
An interface used to allow plug in data types into SM. Once
a class implements this interface, it can be used as a data type for matching
conditions.
Question
Contains a name, type, and body of text ( the question that will be
asked when the user uses the system ). Type defines the kind of answers
that it expects.
Results
The possible values returned by each simple matcher and ultimately
by the structured matcher. They are Strongly Match, Match, Slightly
Match, Neutral, Slightly Against, Against, Strongly Against.
Run
Implements the matching algorithm to return a result, starting at the
root simple matcher which recursively evaluated it's children simple
matchers.
Structured Matcher
A tree of simple matchers.
Simple Matcher
Contains a table, and implements the matching algorithm.
SimpleMatcherController
A class specific controller to handle messages from the simple matcher
user interface class. It routes these messages to the domain objects
in the system.
Table
It is made up of rows and columns. Each column represents a question,
simple matcher, or in the case of the last column the result of the row.
to be given if all the previous column's matching condition had been true
in the row. Each row allows different matching conditions to be set
for the questions
Tree
A simple non-cyclic ( can only reference children nodes ) n-tuple
( allowing multiple children ) tree with simple matchers for it's nodes.
User
A person who uses a structured matcher to apply it's expert knowledge
towards solving a problem or answering a question.
e-mail:wingkeonxxerasethisxx@ecst.csuchico.edu
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