How to Build a Business Rules Engine

based on rules definitions that it possesses and data that it can access. Alternatively,

a user may simply wish to know what can be inferred from a given set of data based

on the rules contained in the engine without necessarily posing a specific question to

the engine. Rules engines oriented to inference in this way are related to applications

that are called expert systems or artificial intelligence. These applications have a fairly

long pedigree and are very useful. However, they are far less common than the kinds

of applications oriented to data management.

This book takes an unashamedly data-oriented view of business rules engines.

This is where the greatest number of requirements are, and thus the greatest number

of opportunities for rules engines ...