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An Introduction to ABLE Rule Processing
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Course Home Page Course Description and Instructions AI Pretest and Review ABLE on alphaWorks Contacts for Questions
Topic 1
Reasoning
Topic 2
ABLE Overview
Topic 3
Simple Business Rules
Topic 4
Data Analysis Rules
Topic 5
Planning Rules
Topic 6
Expert Systems
Topic 7
Putting It All Together

Course Evaluation

Course Overview

ABLE is a Java framework, component library, and productivity tool kit for building intelligent agents using machine learning and reasoning. It is available for download from IBM Research. The intent of the instruction is to give enough of an introduction to ABLE rule-processing technology so that you can decide whether it warrants further investigation as a possible technology solution for a project. It’s not intended to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about ABLE (but were afraid to ask).

In this instruction, you will examine problems to determine if they can be solved using reasoning. You will then learn about the features in ABLE that support reasoning. By matching the attributes of the problem with the capabilities of ABLE rule-processing capabilities, you will learn how to determine if ABLE should be considered as part of the problem solution and what features of ABLE rule processing should be looked at more closely when you design the solution.

In this course, you will learn:

  • what ABLE is
  • the types of problems ABLE rule processing can solve
  • the features of ABLE that support rule processing
Once you understand the basic rule-processing capabilites of ABLE, you can decide if ABLE rules are the right solution for your project. We hope that you enjoy the course and learn a lot. Be sure to complete the course evaluation at the end of the course to let us know what you thought of the course!

Course Objectives

Upon the completion of this course, you will be able to:
  • Describe what ABLE is.
  • Identify a reasoning problem.
  • Describe the four main uses of ABLE rule processing: simple business rules, data analysis, planning, and expert systems.
  • Analyze problem requirements to determine if they match ABLE rule-processing features.
  • Determine whether ABLE rule processing should be considered for a project.

Proceeding Through the Course

This course assumes that you have a basic understanding of rudimentary artificial intelligence (AI) concepts and the types of problems that are usually solved using AI techniques. If you're not sure whether or not you have these skills, or you just want a quick review, you should start with the AI Pretest and Review which is available as a link at the top of any course page. Note that when you take the pretest or any of the other exercises provided in the course, no one sees the results but you. Taking the pretest is a good way to refresh your recollection of the AI concepts that are important in the remainder of this course.

Once you've taken the pretest, you should proceed through the remaining topics in the course. Each topic is numbered and listed on the left-hand side of the course pages. The numbers indicate the suggested order of the topics in the course, although you can skip around or go back and review any topic at any time. At the end of most topics there is a practice exercise in which you can apply what you've learned. Again, these exercises are provide only for your review.

At the end of the course page for the last topic, there is a longer practice test in which you will apply all the skills you've learned in this course. The practice test and all the exercises are intended to reflect real-world problems that you might want to consider solving using ABLE rules.

Because this course is still in development, you will be asked to send a copy of your practice test to us. The practice test will be reviewed to see how well the course met its objectives. The practice test results will be used for course evaluation and revision only. Once the practice test document is received, it will be detached from the email and will no longer be associated with anything that identifies you.

You will also be asked to complete a course evaluation. Again, the information in the course evaluation will only be used to revise and improve the course.

Other Links

In addition to the course materials, two other links are provided at the top of each course page. The ABLE on alphaWorks link will take you to the IBM alphaWorks site where the ABLE Toolkit can be downloaded.

The Contacts for Questions link provides contact information for technical questions and support for the ABLE Toolkit.

If you have any technical problems proceeding through this course, please contact support@bigusbooks.com.