15 (so far) Things You Can Do With Algernon

1. Traverse the entire KB with one line of code.
2. Perform Google searches.
3. Use Google to search for web pages related to your KB contents.
4. Find connectivity between two frames using alternate paths.
5. Write queries that follow paths in the KB.
6. Write queries that don't follow paths in the KB.
7. Trigger KB operations from external events.
8. Build an entire KB from information in a file.
9. Act as a server for remote rule processing.
10. Count KB events.
11. Delete unneeded frames from the KB.
12. Generate robot navigation plans.
13. Compute reachability in a Petri Net.
14. Perform qualitative reasoning.
15. Verify the consistency of a knowledge base.

1. Traverse the entire KB with one line of code.

  ;; Retrieve all KB objects
  ((:CHILD :THING ?x))

  ;; Retrieve all KB objects and do something with them
  ((:CHILD :THING ?x)
   (:PRINTLN ?x " is in the KB."))

2. Perform Google searches

;; Put this in a text file, insert your own
;; Google search key in the :USE-KB clause,
;; and have Algernon execute the file:
;;
;;  java -classpath algernon.jar:protege.jar:googleapi.jar org.algernon.Algernon this-file.txt
;;
;; This will run inside Protege if you put googleapi.jar
;; in the Protege plugins directory.  googleapi.jar is
;; available at http://www.google.com/apis/

;; You must also register with Google and put the correct
;; key in the :USE-KB clause below.

(tell ((:trace :silent)
       (:USE-KB :google-1 Google "com.google.soap.search" "***-insert-your-Google-access-key-here-***")
       ))  ;; 32 characters in key

(ask  ((:println "Google Search")
       (:add-instance (?query GoogleSearch) (QueryString ?query "NFL Football"))
       (doSearch     ?query           ?result)
       (SearchTime   ?result          ?searchtime)
       (:println "  Search took " ?searchtime " seconds.")
       (ResultElements ?result        ?resultElement)
       (URL          ?resultElement   ?url)
       (Title        ?resultElement   ?title)
       (:println "  " ?url + ": " + ?title)
       ))

3. Use Google to search for web pages related to your KB contents

(tell ((:USE-KB :KB-1 Protege ".../mykbs/kb.pprj")
       (:USE-KB :KB-2 Google "com.google.soap.search" "***-insert-your-Google-access-key-here-***")))

4. Find connectivity between two frames using alternate paths

  ((connected ?a ?b)
   <-
   (slot1 ?a ?x)
   (connected ?x ?b)
   )

  ((connected ?a ?b)
   <-
   (slot2 ?a ?x)
   (connected ?x ?b)
   )

  ... one rule for every slot.

5. Write queries that follow paths in the KB.

  Ask:  ((mother person1 ?mother)
         (sibling ?mother ?sib)
         (child   ?sib    ?cousin)
         (:PRINTLN ?cousin " is a cousin of person1 on his or her mother's side.")
         )

6. Write queries that don't follow paths in the KB.

  Ask:  ((color  Tour_De_Eiffel  ?color)
         (height Great_Pyramid   ?height)
         (age    Stonehenge      ?age)
         (neighbor Switzerland   ?neighbor)
         )

7. Trigger KB operations from external events

  // in Java
  Algernon algy = new Algernon();
  algy.addKB(...);

  if (..whatever...)
    algy.tell("(color object1 " + newColor + ")");


  ;; in Algernon
  ((color ?something ?newcolor)
   ->
   (:println ?something " is now " ?newcolor)
   )

8. Build an entire KB from information in a file.

(tell ((:USE-KB :KB-1 Protege ".../kb.pprj")))

(tell ((:TAXONOMY
        (:THING
         (Vehicles
          (Automobiles)
          (Airplanes)
          (Trains)
          )
         (Colors  Red Green Blue)  ;; R, G, B are instances
         (Animals
          (Vertebrates
           (Insects))
          (Bacteria)
          )
         )
        )))

(tell ((:RELATION Color (:THING Colors))))  ;; and so on

(tell ((Color Bacteria Green)))    ;; and so on

9. Act as a server for remote rule processing

  // in Java on the server
  Algernon algy = new Algernon();
  algy.addKB("...");

  algy.startServer(8111);   // The port number
  ...
  algy.shutdownServer();


  // The client program
  Socket      socket = new Socket("localhost", 8111);
  PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream());

  writer.println("((color Bacteria Green))");

10. Count KB events

   ;; count new neighbors
   ((neighbor ?thing ?neighbor)
    ->
    (counter1 Counter ?value)
    (:BIND ?new-value (:LISP (+ ?value 1)))
    (:CLEAR-RELATION Counter counter1)
    (counter1 Counter ?new-value)
    )

11. Delete unneeded frames from the KB.

12. Generate robot navigation plans

13. Compute reachability in a Petri Net

14. Perform qualitative reasoning

15. Verify the consistency of a knowledge base

  Ask:  ((:instance A ?instance)
         (:OR ((slot1 ?instance ?slot1-value)
               (slot2 ?instance ?slot2-value)
               (:instance B ?slot1-value)
               (:instance C ?slot2-value)
               (:println ?instance " is okay.")
               )
              ((:println "*** " ?instance " does not link to instances of B and C."))
              )
         )