Intelligent Software Systems in Historical Context

The purpose of this chapter is to trace the evolution of intelligent software from data-centric applications that essentially encapsulate their data environment to ontology-based applications with automated reasoning capabilities. It is argued that a distinction may be drawn between human intelligence and component capabilities within a more general definition of intelligence, and that such component capabilities can be embedded in computer software. The primary vehicle in the quest for intelligent software has been the gradual recognition of the central role played by data and information, rather than the logic and functionality of the application. The three milestones in this evolution have been: the separation of data management from the internal domain of the application; the development of standard data exchange protocols such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML), which allows machine interpretable structure and meaning to be added to data exchange packages; and, the ability to build information models that are rich in relationships and are thereby capable of supporting the automated reasoning capabilities of software agents.