Artificial Intelligence

[Volker Schnitzer]

I heard that some artificial intelligence is covered in the book. This really excites me. I was always wandering how to employ this in Java. I heard some things about rule based systems or rule engines, also neural networks. I have not had the chance yet to go deep into these subjects. Are there any preferred methods for certain fields, and what would be a good example for an AI application in Java?

[Herb Schildt]

Volker:
There is one chapter about AI in The Art of Java. It discusses various AI-based search techniques (depth-first, breadth-first, etc.) I think that you will find it interesting.
Also, it is one of the two sample chapters that are available at
ttp://www.jamesholmes.com/TheArtOfJava/ so you can check it out free-of-charge!
IMO Java is well suited for AI development. For example, it efficiently supports recursion (an important component of many AI-based techniques), and its collections framework offers many classes that support convenient list-processing.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Volker Schnitzer:
I heard that some artificial intelligence is covered in the book. This really excites me. I was always wandering how to employ this in Java. I heard some things about rule based systems or rule engines, also neural networks. I have not had the chance yet to go deep into these subjects. Are there any preferred methods for certain fields, and what would be a good example for an AI application in Java?

I have skimmed through the whole chapter about AI... There are popular searching techniques covered there, except A* searching algorithm... I have some reviews on that chapter and the authors didn't reply to that thread yet... I think they overlooked my thread... Here is the link to that thread..
By the way, what do u think about the content in that chapter? Could u please share us, after at least skimming through the contents? Thanks...
https://coderanch.com/t/372606/java/java/AI-Based-Solving-Chapter-Book

[Ashok C. Mohan]

James and Schildt,
Do you think AI is the future? Is that why you added that chapter in your book? If not can you tell me the reason for adding the chapter in your book.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Ashok C.M.:
James and Schildt,
Do you think AI is the future?

How come u ask this kind of question? AI is widely used in the game development and it is in fact the present, not the future..... AI is a must in this age for sure...

[Herb Schildt]

Ashok
Ko Ko is right when he says that AI is the present. However, I know what you mean.
I think that the entire field of AI will become increasingly important because of the ever-expanding use of robotics. Moreover, AI-based techniques are crucial to autonomous (that is, stand-alone) robots and for humanoid robots.
An a related point: I believe that we are on the leading egde of a revolution in robotics. Just as the Internet changed the world a decade ago, the mainstream use of robotics will change the world again -- in the relatively near future. This is great news for us programmers!

[John Ipe]

Originally posted by Herb Schildt:
I believe that we are on the leading egde of a revolution in robotics. Just as the Internet changed the world a decade ago, the mainstream use of robotics will change the world again -- in the relatively near future. This is great news for us programmers!

Can you tell us what it is that has brought us to this point of advancement in robotics? And how can programmers be poised to serve the need when it arises? Wouldn't this be something more for those who work with control systems than application developers? Would be glad to hear more or be pointed to the resources you are referring to!
Regards
John
PS. I used your "ANSI C Made Easy" as one of my first programming books, still have fond memories of that book so many years later. God bless your contributions to this industry, and thus to this world. Truly the world owes a great debt to those who teach, and teach well. (And I'm not just saying this!)

[Herb Schildt]

John:
Thank you so much for your kind words! You have definitely made my day! Thank you again!
As to AI and robotics: First, call it intuition if you will, but from a technological point of view we seem to be reaching a "critical mass" in robotics. The hardware is there, the vision systems are there, the power systems are getting there, etc. IMO the software is the main hold-up, but this, too, will come.
Second: robotics is racing forward in the area of defense. Consider the latest crop of battle field robots and pilotless drones. I believe that military uses of robotics will drive the entire field forward -- and rapidly.
Yes, control systems are part of it, but for the creation of truly autonomous robots, we need software that enables a robot to operate in a human environment. We are only starting to achieve this. However, I thinks that it is, in part, only a matter of time and resources.

[John Ipe]

and thank you for your response, it's my day that's been made!

Originally posted by Herb Schildt:

IMO the software is the main hold-up, but this, too, will come.

is java being considered at all for these systems? do you think real-time java will have a role to play?

Originally posted by Herb Schildt:

we need software that enables a robot to operate in a human environment. We are only starting to achieve this. However, I thinks that it is, in part, only a matter of time and resources.

are you talking of the need to teach a robot about the physical frailties of homo sapiens so they don't crush us or something like that? is this largely what human computer interaction research is all about? so far i've only heard of java playing a role with GUIs for HCI... is there more that java is/will soon be doing on this front?
regards
john

[Herb Schildt]

John:
The reason that I think that Java will be used in robotics is that its a great language. Programmers tend to use the languages they know and like. Of course, other languages, such as C++, will also be used. For example, I could easily see Java being used for the communications subsystem and C++ for motor control
Real-time Java? Sure.
And, yes, I was referring (in part) to robots not crushing us! But moreover, to the software that it takes to enable a robot to operate in our world, which contains many, many different types of objects.
Again, these are just my opinions. The future will tell if my intuition is correct!

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Herb Schildt:

The hardware is there, the vision systems are there, the power systems are getting there, etc. IMO the software is the main hold-up, but this, too, will come.

So the trend is going to the Robotics technology and is it some kind of good news for Computer Engineers? Coz it's kinda more related to the interaction between Hardware Systems and the AI applications as controller... They(Computer Engineers) know more about hardwares, vision systems and power systems than software developers...
If they have enough ability to developer AI applications to control their hardware systems, then will be it some kinda threat for software developers position? I also believe that Robotics technology will surely a big impact in the future...

[Ashok C. Mohan]

Hi,
Schildt&James
Do u think any flavours of java will be specifically designed for AI? Or is it that people are overlooking the capability of java for AI programming.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Ashok C.M.:

Do u think any flavours of java will be specifically designed for AI? Or is it that people are overlooking the capability of java for AI programming.

I think the second one is the thing that is currently happening in the programmers community. Programmers usually overlook the capability of a programming language and they try to re-invent the wheel again and again... But when they see the amazing capability of a certain programming lanaguage, for example, by reading "The Art of Java" Book, they just say "Ah! I didn't know it can be done like this and like that"... It sounds natural, isn't it?
Actually Java was designed to fit the need of almost all aspects in programming field, when it was first created... So we cannot say that Java will be specifically designed for AI in the future...

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Ahem.

[Herb Schildt]

Ashok: I think that Java is already suitable for all sorts of programming, including AI. Thus, I don't see the need for a special version.
Ko Ko: IMO the increasing use of robots is great news for the programmer. Remember, a robot without software is just an anchor! It is software that makes things happen. In general, I think that the future is bright for all programmers. The computer revolution has really only just begun.
Ernest: As always, thanks for your well-timed post. (BTW: I always enjoy reading your posts here at JavaRanch!)

[Barry Gaunt]

Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Ahem.

As the proud owner of an Ahem, I was going to mention Ahem too. But I got beaten to it.
[ January 09, 2004: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]

[Jessica Sant]

Well, I was so flattered by the title of Ahem, that I'm now taking my 2nd AI class in my Master's Program at Drexel (Last quarter was search, game theory, planning, etc; this quarter is uncertainty, neural nets and decision making).
Last quarter all our coding was done in Python. I'll have to check out this chapter to see how they explain the topics with Java, should be interesting. (BTW, Python actually wasn't that bad. Just took a little while to get used to the syntax. But the list manipulation is pretty slick).
[ January 09, 2004: Message edited by: Jessica Sant ]