Let's keep this going!

We could loose this blog site due to years of inactivity, so hopefully this will stop Google from deleting it.

ORF 2010 - New Owner, etc

Greetings:

OK, the official web page for (October) Rules Fest is not up and running. Rules Fest will be October 11th - October 13th and all details can be found at http://www.rulesfest.org now managed and maintained by Jason Morris of Morris Technical Services. So far, no list of speakers BUT there is a call for papers. So, if you feel that you would like to write something technical in one of five categories then write up a synopsis and send it in. Charles Young is collecting all of them and somewhere there is a group of guys who will determine who can speak and if that subject fits that category or should be moved or whatever

In the past, we've had a lot of fun. Now that the Rules Fest is in Silicon Valley, it should draw LOTS more of the technical attendees, speakers and even some of uber-geeks from Stanford. That was always the problem with holding ORF in Dallas; most of the techies were in California or North Carolina. So, with a bit of help from Michael Small (FICO - Chicago) the guys found a really nice hotel in San Jose to have the conference with a nice main conference room and some breakout rooms. Exactly what will happen and exactly WHO will be there will be posted as it happens. Hopefully the site will allow an RSS feed so that you can automagically track what's happening, including Tweets.

Probably this blog will either shut down or be renamed to something else. After all, ORF 2009 ended last year. :-)

SDG

jco

Final Posting

Greetings:

I have accepted a position as Product Manager (Blaze Advisor) at FICO and will no longer do ORF. However, my other blog, http://javarules.blogspot.com will continue to be my own blog only now it will be kind of an outward facing blog of things to do with Blaze Advisor as well.

October Rules Fest has been turned over to Jason Morris of Morris Technical Solutions (MTS) and he has renamed it to just "Rules Fest" - I'm notosure what will happen at this point but you can contact Jason at his personal blog, http://Zen-of-Jess.blotspot.com or email him

I hope that all of you stay around and help Jason with Rules Fest 2010 this year.

SDG
joo

Rule Fest 2010

Greetings:

Jason Morris is now running the new and improved Rules Fest 2010, formerly known as The October Rules Fest. The next conference is today, Feb 15th, at 10:00 CST, 2:00 p.m. London, 3:00 Paris and Munich. I hope that you can attend and get the conference off the ground. Lots of jobs left open right now it's up to you guys to help Jason make the conference a grand success.

Just go out to http://www.dimdim.com and register for the jcmorris-mts conference.

SDG

jco

ORF 2009 News Recap

Greetings:

I've been blogging on my own web site (http://javarules.blogspot.com) and have not been active enough on this one. So, here is a recap of all the new about October Rules Fest 2009:

The Adolphus dramatically dropped their room rates down to $129 / night so that the attendees will not have to stay at a cheaper hotel nearby and walk in what might be inclement weather to the conference. Also, they can hang out in the Pub Night room and then only have to catch the elevator to their room.

Keynote Speaker: Thomas Cooper, a contemporary of Charles Forgy, Anoop Gupta, Paul Haley, John McDermott, Allen Newell and others of that era. Tom co-authored a book on OPS5 in the 80's and is one of the "thought leaders" of this industry.

Thursday Think Tank - T3: On Thursday afternoon we will feature our leading speakers in a Think Tank that is open to the Attendees as well. Since the session is all afternoon, there should be plenty of time for questions and, maybe, an answer or two.

Drools Boot Camp - DBC: All day Sunday and Monday morning. Led by Mark Proctor and Edson Tirelli this proved to be a source of great interest last year and it should be even more interesting this year. This is free for ORF Attendees.

Jess Boot Camp - JBC: Jason Morris of Morris Technical Solutions will be giving a Jess tutorial all day on Sunday and Monday morning. The schedule is posted and promises to be extremely interesting to those who like Jess and/or CLIPS as their primary rulebase language. This is free for ORF attendees.

Student Fees: Once again this year we have discounted Student Fees to $150 for the entire ORF session that includes the JBC and DBC. Students will need to send us a copy of their current photo-ID drivers license and their photo-ID Student ID card to qualify. The same cards will have to be presented at ORF for verification.

Ping Pong / Table Tennis and/or Foosball has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Sorry about that. I was looking forward to a tournament kind of evening.

White Papers and Presentations will be available during the conference for you to load on your computer to follow along. However, all will be copyrighted to either the individual speaker or to October Rules Fest Corporation.

Brochures will be available at the conference and electronically later this week. (Thanks, Chelanie). This will be a real keep-sake for your Golden Years.

So, if you haven't registered already, do so NOW. He who hesitates is lost. :-)

More and more good news on ORF 2009

Greetings:

First, some GREAT news! We have re-arranged the Agenda so that we could accommodate a "Thursday Afternoon Think Tank on Needful Things." This would be a round table discussion (with some attendee participation) on various subjects that concern the more technical aspects of rulebased systems rather than their direct application to problems per se. Those who have agreed to be on the panel are Dr. Charles Forgy, Mark Proctor, Gary Riley, Dr. Jacob Feldman, Dr. Richard Hicks, Carole Ann Berlioz-Matignon, Carlos Seranno-Morales, Jason Morris and Paul Vincent. For example, a few of the topics will (might) be Complex Event Processing, Benchmarks in This Century, Patterns in Rulebased Systems, Finite State Machines as a Special Type of Rules, etc. This is focused more on the "hard core" developers and "thought leaders" in the rulebase field. However, ALL attendees and/or speakers are invited to attend and be part of the direction(s) that rulebased systems might take for the next decade.

Another change is that there will be another Drools Boot Camp (like last year) headed up by Mark Proctor. This will be co-located with October Rules Fest in The Adolphus hotel and will be all day SUNDAY and MONDY morning. Since Mark and Edson will be there anyway this was a great opportunity for another in a great series of DBCs that Mark has done in the past. The DBC will be absolutely free for ORF attendees but there will be a charge if you are attending DBC only so that we can pay for the room, coffee, etc.

Finally, the conference proper will start on MONDAY AFTERNOON rather than Tuesday morning. The lead-off speaker will be Lawrence Terrill on a really good explanation of the Rete Algorithm - one of the best that I have ever seen.

I've been reading through some of the early submissions of the White Papers for October Rules Fest and they are really outstanding! Dr. Charles Forgy's paper on parallel rulebased systems (need and solutions) is fantastic. As is that of Gary Riley on optimizing performance in CLIPS. Andrew Waterman submitted one on games and is looking for folks to submit more add-ons. Dr. Richard Hicks has submitted one on Validation and Verification that everyone should read. (He is giving each attendee a free copy of the game.) Dr. Daniel Levine's paper explores the inner-dimension of the brain itself, its own self-imposed rules and problems with "rational thought process." Remember, all of these will be available at no charge only to attendees at ORF 2009.

Anyway, you need to sign up (if you haven't already done so) and be sure to reserve a hotel room. We still have a few places left.

SDG

jco

http://www.OctoberRulesFest.org

Table Tennis or Foosball - Chess or Checkers

Greetings:

October Rules Fest is pretty much an "All Rules All The Time" kind of place. But, some folks need a bit of respite from constantly being bombarded with this or that technical feature of which rulebased system and its importance and just need something to relax. Something that is not getting drunk at one of the many local bars or hanging out at in the restaurant trying to stay awake because the geek on the other side of the table just runs on and on and on and...

So! We added two polls on the left side of this page. One is whether you would like to have Foosball or Table Tennis at ORF 2009. The other asks if you would like Chess or Checkers at ORF 2009. If (and only if) you plan on attending October Rules Fest 2009, and you actually care about either one of these activities, please vote on which one. If you think that things like Table Tennis (sometimes called Ping Pong) and Foosball are totally unprofessional at a conference such as ORF, then vote for neither. On the other hand, if you believe that that these are compatible with any conference, then please for one or the other or both. If we get enough interested, then maybe we could arrange some kind of tournament in the evenings.

Most of all, I would appreciate your comments on this subject. Yes (and why) or no (and why). Personally, I like both TT and Chess so I voted for those two.

SDG

jco

ORF 2009 Super Early Bird Discount Extension

Greetings:

October Rules Fest 2009 has extended the Super Early Bird discount of 20% off of normal registration fees to midnight, June 6th, 2009. Regular registration is $500 so that represents $100 savings. If you have any questions, check out http://www.OctoberRulesFest.org for more info on speakers, agenda, etc. The hotel should be determined not later than Friday of this week, June 5th. Anyway, be SURE to register THIS WEEK to get the best savings. :-)

With parking at ANY hotel in downtown Dallas being astronomical (cheaper than New York, San Francisco, London or Paris though) it might be more economical to park-and-ride. There will be directions on the ORF web page at a later date about how to do that.

SDG
jco

October Rules Fest 2009

Greetings:

Well, ORF 2009 is ready to rock and roll in downtown Dallas again, only this year the conference will be in the center of the downtown Dallas restaurant district rather than on the outskirts like last year. Just point your Google Earth to 1400 Commerce Street in downtown Dallas and you'll see what I mean. Everything from MacDonald's to The French Room to the "ultra cool" Fuse restaurant. After we check them out, the ORF web site have an ever-expanding list of top (not necessarily expensive) restaurants within a two- or three-block walking radius.

We won't have the same space as last year so, counting the 30+ speakers that we will have, there will be room for only about 170 attendees - first come first served. So, register early and you will still get your 20% discount. There is still no extra charge for tutorials if you are attending the conference and this year's tutorial have a great line up. As a matter of fact, the entire agenda is great. As you can see from the speaker bios those who are returning and the new speakers for this year are strictly "top drawer" - the best of the best.

If your company is interested in becoming a sponsor, contact info@OctoberRulesFest.org and let them know. Again, remember that there is room this year for only 170 attendees. Maybe 180, but that's about it. More on the hotel as it develops but it is down to a choice of only two really great hotels for the same price as last year - but more goodies.

So, register early and ensure that you have a great spot at the Second Annual October Rules Fest. Most of all, like last year, we're going to have FUN and we're going to enjoy ourselves.

SDG

jco

Data for Manners 2009

Greetings:

OK, here it is.  As you can see, we have to possibility of adding some complexity regarding the teachers and socialites.  BUT, we'll do that only if the times are extremely low.

==============================

Num,Profession,SubProf,Gender,Hobby1,Hobby2,Hobby3

-------------------------------------------

1,Politician,Democrat,F,4,1,2

2,Politician,Democrat,F,1,2,4

3,Politician,Democrat,F,5,1,3

4,Politician,Democrat,F,3,4,2

5,Politician,Democrat,F,2,5,3

6,Politician,Democrat,F,4,3,5

7,Politician,Democrat,M,4,1,2

8,Politician,Democrat,M,4,1,3

9,Politician,Democrat,M,2,3,4

10,Politician,Democrat,M,1,2,4

11,Politician,Democrat,M,5,3,1

12,Politician,Democrat,M,4,3,5

13,Politician,Republican,F,3,4,2

14,Politician,Republican,F,3,5,4

15,Politician,Republican,F,3,1,4

16,Politician,Republican,F,1,3,4

17,Politician,Republican,F,2,4,3

18,Politician,Republican,F,4,1,5

19,Politician,Republican,M,1,3,2

20,Politician,Republican,M,5,3,4

21,Politician,Republican,M,5,4,2

22,Politician,Republican,M,2,3,1

23,Politician,Republican,M,2,4,1

24,Politician,Republican,M,4,5,1

25,Doctor,Pediatrician,F,3,4,1

26,Doctor,Pediatrician,F,2,5,3

27,Doctor,Pediatrician,F,2,5,3

28,Doctor,Pediatrician,F,1,3,5

29,Doctor,Pediatrician,F,1,2,3

30,Doctor,Pediatrician,F,1,1,5

31,Doctor,Pediatrician,M,4,5,3

32,Doctor,Pediatrician,M,3,1,5

33,Doctor,Surgeon,F,2,3,1

34,Doctor,Surgeon,F,3,5,1

35,Doctor,Surgeon,F,5,4,1

36,Doctor,Surgeon,F,5,3,4

37,Doctor,Surgeon,M,2,4,1

38,Doctor,Surgeon,M,2,5,3

39,Doctor,Surgeon,M,4,3,2

40,Doctor,Surgeon,M,1,3,5

41,Doctor,Osteopath,F,4,3,2

42,Doctor,Osteopath,F,4,1,3

43,Doctor,Osteopath,M,5,4,1

44,Doctor,Osteopath,M,2,1,3

45,Doctor,Osteopath,M,2,5,3

46,Doctor,Osteopath,M,3,2,5

47,Doctor,Osteopath,M,5,4,3

48,Doctor,Osteopath,M,5,4,1

49,Sports,Basketball,F,1,3,5

50,Sports,Basketball,F,3,5,1

51,Sports,Basketball,F,5,1,3

52,Sports,Basketball,F,4,2,1

53,Sports,Basketball,M,2,1,4

54,Sports,Basketball,M,5,1,4

55,Sports,Basketball,M,4,5,1

56,Sports,Basketball,M,3,5,2

57,Sports,Football,M,4,3,2

58,Sports,Football,M,3,2,4

59,Sports,Football,M,5,3,2

60,Sports,Football,M,2,3,4

61,Sports,Football,M,4,1,2

62,Sports,Football,M,1,5,2

63,Sports,Football,M,3,5,1

64,Sports,Football,M,2,3,1

65,Sports,Football,M,3,4,5

66,Sports,Football,M,5,3,4

67,Sports,Football,M,2,1,3

68,Sports,Football,M,2,4,3

69,Sports,Baseball,M,2,5,4

70,Sports,Baseball,M,2,3,1

71,Sports,Baseball,M,4,2,3

72,Sports,Baseball,M,3,1,4

73,Teacher,Math,F,4,5,2

74,Teacher,Math,F,3,4,2

75,Teacher,Math,M,4,4,3

76,Teacher,Math,M,2,1,3

77,Teacher,Math,M,3,5,2

78,Teacher,Math,M,5,2,3

79,Teacher,Math,M,4,2,3

80,Teacher,Math,M,1,4,3

81,Teacher,English,F,3,5,4

82,Teacher,English,F,4,3,1

83,Teacher,English,M,4,3,5

84,Teacher,English,M,1,2,3

85,Teacher,Science,F,4,2,1

86,Teacher,Science,F,3,2,1

87,Teacher,Science,M,1,3,5

88,Teacher,Science,M,1,5,3

89,Teacher,Sports,F,5,3,2

90,Teacher,Sports,F,2,5,3

91,Teacher,Sports,M,1,4,2

92,Teacher,Sports,M,1,4,5

93,Teacher,History,F,1,5,3

94,Teacher,History,F,1,3,5

95,Teacher,History,M,4,1,2

96,Teacher,History,M,4,3,2

97,Programmer,MacIntosh,F,2,4,3

98,Programmer,MacIntosh,F,4,5,1

99,Programmer,MacIntosh,F,5,3,1

100,Programmer,MacIntosh,M,2,5,3

101,Programmer,MacIntosh,M,4,1,3

102,Programmer,MacIntosh,M,5,4,3

103,Programmer,MacIntosh,M,4,3,1

104,Programmer,MacIntosh,M,1,5,4

105,Programmer,Windows,F,5,4,3

106,Programmer,Windows,F,2,4,3

107,Programmer,Windows,F,1,5,4

108,Programmer,Windows,F,2,4,5

109,Programmer,Windows,F,4,2,3

110,Programmer,Windows,F,1,3,2

111,Programmer,Windows,M,4,3,2

112,Programmer,Windows,M,3,4,1

113,Programmer,COBOL,F,4,1,3

114,Programmer,COBOL,F,5,2,1

115,Programmer,COBOL,M,2,3,4

116,Programmer,COBOL,M,2,3,5

117,Programmer,COBOL,M,4,5,1

118,Programmer,COBOL,M,3,2,5

119,Programmer,COBOL,M,2,4,5

120,Programmer,COBOL,M,4,2,1

121,Socialite,Republican,F,4,5,3

122,Socialite,Republican,F,1,3,5

123,Socialite,Republican,F,2,2,3

124,Socialite,Republican,F,1,3,5

125,Socialite,Republican,F,3,2,4

126,Socialite,Republican,F,3,2,1

127,Socialite,Democrat,F,5,2,3

128,Socialite,Democrat,F,5,4,3

129,Socialite,Democrat,F,1,5,2

130,Socialite,Democrat,F,1,4,5

131,Socialite,Democrat,F,5,4,1

132,Socialite,Democrat,F,4,1,2

133,Socialite,Democrat,F,1,3,5

134,Socialite,Democrat,F,1,4,5

135,Socialite,Democrat,F,2,5,1

136,Socialite,Democrat,F,1,4,5

137,Socialite,Democrat,F,3,4,1

138,Socialite,Democrat,F,2,5,3

139,Socialite,Republican,M,3,1,5

140,Socialite,Republican,M,1,2,3

141,Socialite,Republican,M,1,5,3

142,Socialite,Republican,M,4,2,3

143,Socialite,Democrat,M,4,1,2

144,Socialite,Democrat,M,1,5,3

----------------------------------

Benchmarking at ORF 2009

Greetings:

There have been many suggestions as to the problems for the vendors at October Rules Fest this year.  I have submitted one already (Einstein's Puzzle) and the "beginning" of another (Miss Manners 2009) but I have not done the data on the last one.  I really was hoping that an enterprise-size vendor (FICO, ILOG, Haley, Pega, ???) would find someone on staff that is not too busy and task them with this simple but time consuming job.  Didn't happen.

Geoffrey De Smet suggested that we use the benchmark problem from the ITC competition, http://www.cs.qub.ac.uk/itc2007/index.htm that had to do with Exam Registration.  On the benchmarks page they said that it was running between 300 to 500 seconds on a "modern PC using Windows XP."  I would think that 5 - 10 minutes would be a bit long for my tastes but you never can tell.  Personally I prefer old-fashioned Unix (or UNIX if you're that old) rather than Windoze or even Linux.  

I have looked at this particular problem / benchmark and it appears to be more of an Operational Research (OR) problem in optimization than a rulebase problem.  We "could" require that the solution be done in a rulebase but those who have OR engines would scream bloody murder if we did.  

However, I leave it with you in the interim to determine what should be a good rulebase problem and what does not lend itself to simple "data smashing" of a typical "business" problem.  The problem should be fairly complex and require a bit of work on the part of the engine itself rather than depending on the operating system and database to do the work.  Please either comment (or if you have authorship privileges then blog) some kind of response to this.  Whatever is decided should be a problem that is long on complexity and short on blandness.  

SDG

jco

ORF 2009 Abstracts Due in One Week

Greetings:

Short blog:  There is only one more week until the Abstracts are due for October Rules Fest 2009.  We have received about 11 or 12 right now and we have enough to do the conference with some really long session times.  :-)

BUT, we need more quality presentations.  We have five more persons that have promised abstracts by the 30th of April but we need to get those in so that the committee can review them without being too rushed.  It should not take more than five minutes or so to write up the abstract once the thought process of considering what to do and how to do it are completed.

What happens is that we should get about 30 abstracts in, cull out five or so that aren't actually applicable to the conference - although what we have so far is looking great - and then five or so will pull out before the actual white paper is due on July 1st.  After that, if the white paper has been submitted, they speakers usually complete the overheads without much of a problem.  Even if we get 30 or 40 that are good, we will have the time to present them.

So, get busy and get the abstracts submitted ASAP.  Thanks,

SDG

jco

ORF 2009 Now Accepting Registrations

Greetings:

Great News!!  You can now register and get the Early Bird Discount at http://www.OctoberRulesFest.org and click on Registration.  If you are interested in sponsoring, PLEASE fill out the for for Sponsor interest.  

Also note that we are filling up the speaker slots so if you have a talk PLEASE send that in to jco@kbsc.com ASAP.  thanks,

SDG

jco

Registration is NOT Ready Yet

Greetings:

http://www.OctoberRulesFest.org is not ready YET to accept applications but it should be by the end of the week.  I'll post a reminder when it is ready.  Remember, there is a deep discount for Early Bird signups.  One other thing:  If we don't get at least 20 for the tutorials on Monday we won't have that part, just the conference that starts on Tuesday.

Some of the speakers from last year have already signed up for this year and you can see their profile on the "Speakers Profile" tab.  If you want to speak, PLEASE submit an abstract BEFORE the 15th of April.  Thanks,

SDG

jco

Problem Number Two

Greetings:

This one took a bit more thinking.  For the second problem, which we DO require that it be solved with a rulebase, we have an updated Ms. Manners (Miss Manners for this century) in which we have 

12 tables with 12 settings (or seats)

 

144 guests who have 1, 2 or 3 hobbies randomly assigned from a selection of 5

Hobbies are Tennis, Golf, Motorcycles, Chess and Poker

24 are politicians, 

12 Democrats

6 Democrats are female

12 Republicans

4 Republicans are female

24 doctors, 

8 pediatricians

6 Pediatricians are female

8 surgeons

4 Surgeons are female

8 osteopaths

2 Osteopaths are females

24 socialites

18 socialites are female

24 sports stars

8 basketball stars

4 basketball stars are female

12 football stars

4 baseball stars

24 teachers

10 teachers are female

24 Programmers

  8 Mac programmers

3 Mac programmers are female

8 Windows Programmers

6 Windows Programmers are female

8 COBOL Programmers

2 COBOL programmers are female

The objective is to put at each table

1 democrat 

1 republican 

2 doctors at each table but NOT two of the same kind

2 socialites at each table

2 sports stars at each table but NOT two of the same kind

2 teachers at each table

2 programmers at each table but NOT two of the same kind

Meanwhile, maintain a boy-girl-boy-girl seating arrangement

Also, each person MUST have someone (left or right) who has the same hobby.

A log should be kept for each table as it is completed.  We expect that some tables will be filled and then changed as needed.  If no solution exists then the rulebase should report that as well.  Perhaps we need two sets of data:  One that has a solution and one that does not just to see how the programmer and the rulebase deal with failure.

Data for this problem will be furnished on request so that we are all working from the same "possible" solution.  It would be really nice if the participating vendors were to have some nice college intern create the data.  Finally, the solution will be checked for accuracy and completeness.  Actually, it should be a simple enough problem and the rules, while not terribly complex, are left up to your discretion.  Ergo, nothing forced EXCEPT for a real solution.  Remember this is Ms. Manners, not Miss Manners.  Ms. Manners is an OO-Rulebase Problem.

Hopefully, all of the sponsors (vendors) at ORF will have the solutions for these problems ready for the attendees.  :-)

SDG

jco

Abstracts Guidelines

Greetings:

First things first: Abstracts (Tutorials or Conference) are due BEFORE April 15th. Please, please, please don't wait until the very last minute to try and think something up. You wouldn't let your kids (nor your students if you are a teacher) get away with something like that, would you? So, be kind to the Review Committee and submit early. You may submit TWO talks if you like and/or TWO presentations from the same company.

You can submit more than two per company for now and IF we have room later we can add them in - but for now with fewer talks taking more time it is going to be a tight squeeze. Also, if you plan on presenting during the Monday Tutorials, then you can, of course, present another talk during the regular conference.

Following is a format that we would like for you to use.

{title} [Centered and Bold]
[1, 2 or 3 column table containing the following]
{author1}
{company1}
{snailmailaddress1}
{city1, state1, postalCode1, country1}
{email1}
{website1|

{author2}
{company2}
{snailmailaddress2}
{city2, state, postalCode2, country2}
{email2}
{website2}

See http://orf2009.blogspot.com/2009/02/white-paper-or-conference-paper.html for more details.

One or two paragraphs, about 100 - 300 words, that best describe the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the White Paper itself. The abstract and references (the ones that you have so far) can be on the same page. References can be either an added page(s) or, if only two or three, on the same page as single-line-spaced footnote.

Use 12 point type and double-line-spacing for the abstract for now. (If in doc or docx format - or any other format that can be imported into MS Word - we can reformat but it would be nice if you did it up front.) 1" margin top and bottom with 0.5" margins on each side. Submit in either doc, docx or pdf format.

White papers will follow a similar format but submission characteristics will change slightly.

The conference papers will be a valid, refereed white paper that academics can use for their publications credentials. The Monday Tutorials have to be approved but are not refereed in the normal sense of the word.

Please feel free to contact info@OctoberRulesFest if you need anything more than what has been blogged already on the subject. So far we have the following abstracts that have been submitted with more promised this coming week:

Jason Morris
"Implementation of a Modified Propose and Revise Problem-Solving Method Using Jess"

Dr. Charles Forgy
"Possible Extensions To Rulebase Languages To Support Cooperating Rules Sets That Run In Parallel" (Or something like that)

James Owen
"Updating Rulebased Forecasting (RBF) To Use Modern Rule Engines"

Dr. Rick Hicks
"Automated Verification Testing for Propositional Logic Systems"

Dr. Jacob Feldman
"Rule Violations and Over-Constrained Problems"

Titles and abstracts may change "slightly" between now and July 1st when the final white papers are due. If you have some of the references ready now, please include them. And hurry! :-)

SDG
jco

ORF 2009 at First Blush

Greetings:

OK, this is a second call for white paper abstract.  It should be about 100 - 200 words that briefly (but completely) tell what will be the contents of your white paper.  This is due NOT LATER THAN 15 APRIL 2009.  So, hurry and get that part to us so that the "committee" can begin their review.  

We have received only one abstract to date but we have promises of about 10 so far.  PLEASE let me know SOON if you plan on speaking.  There were 12 or 13 who signed up to speak but this page did not report who they were - all voting was anonymous.  :-(  Thanks. 

ORF 2009 IS BACK IN DALLAS for the last week of October.  Three and 1/2 days this time, Tuesday morning through Friday noon.  Full details as they are available will be on the web page to go up later this week.  Early sign-up discounts for both the conference and tutorials.  Also, discounts for group memberships.  Probably only one Keynote Speaker this year unless we feel the need for more - let me know what you think.

TUTORIALS will be all day on Monday AND will be available only if we get at least 25 persons to sign up for them.  (The room will be the same room as the conference so we have to have enough to pay for the room, coffee, etc.)  However, we are going to try and persuade the sponsoring vendors do one-hour tutorials (four of them) in the afternoon.  The morning sessions will be introduction to rulebased systems and BRMS taught by several, very senior ORF members.  (That will be on the web page later this week.)

EARLY SIGNUP for the conference will begin later this week.  This will be the cheapest training course for rulebased systems and BRMS in the known world.  Most of the technical speakers from last year will be returning, including Dr. Forgy, Gary Riley, Dr. Feldman, Dr. Hicks, Edson Tirelli,  and Mark Proctor.   Subjects will range from Complex Event Processing (CEP) to RuleBased Forecasting (RBF) to Parallel Rulebased Systems to Dr. Forgy's new and improved algorithm that was announced earlier here on the page.

PUB NIGHT will be a published, established place where we will have reservations in advance.  Last year most of the Q&A was at Pub Night until closing.  What a rush!  But this year we can control the music level so that we can talk without having to shout at each other.

SPONSORS need to sign up soon.  The fees are along the same line as last year and we have sent the fee schedule to most of you already.  If you did NOT get one, let me know.  Without our sponsors, the conference will not happen.

So, come early and stay late.  Most of all, learn something and have fun doing it.

SDG

jco

Einstein Puzzle in Microsoft Solver Foundation

As promised in my last post (http://geekswithblogs.net/cyoung/archive/2009/02/24/129639.aspx), I had a look at the Express edition of Microsoft Solver Framework (http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/solverfoundation), and used it to implement the Einstein puzzle using the built-in CSP solver and C#. Creating the solution proved particularly easy for the simple reason that Microsoft provides a worked example of a politically corrected ‘Zebra’ variant in their documentation (no tobacco or beer in sight). You will find this as Sample 8 in the SFS Programming Primer document that comes with the download.

To read more and see the code, visit http://geekswithblogs.net/cyoung/archive/2009/02/25/129672.aspx

Constraint Satisfaction and Rete

A few days ago, Daniel Selman of ILOG (now owned by IBM) published a solution to the Einstein puzzle. See http://blogs.ilog.com/brms/2009/02/16/einsteins-puzzle/. He did this in response to a challenge from James Owen who is one of the organisers of the October Rules Fest conference. James invited the various vendors who have involvement in the conference to provide a solution using whatever approach they deemed best. See http://orf2009.blogspot.com/2009/02/puzzle-1-for-conference.html.

Daniel suggests that, if ILOG had used a Rete rules engine, they would have had to implement 'convoluted rules' to solve the problem. Daniel is correct, but I thought it would be interesting to look a little deeper at why this is the case.

Read more at http://geekswithblogs.net/cyoung/archive/2009/02/24/129639.aspx.

Job Board

Greetings:

While this is NOT a jobs board, we probably should start one for rulebase consultants.  For now, here is one that I know about:

BIZRULES is looking for a Haley Rules Modeler *

The Haley Rule Modeler designs and implements the Haley Rules using the Haley data model and rules. The Haley Rule Modeler is expected to have extensive experience implementing the Haley rules engine and should have experience implementing the Haley rules engine in the context of Seibel implementations.

* by "Haley Rules" the client means
- RuleBurst Rule Engine (BRE)
- SoftLaw Rule Engine (BRE) / Expert System (ES)
- Haley Office Rules
- Haley Expert Rules
- Haley Business Rule Engine (BRE)

This is for a long term project. RULEBURST/SOFTLAW experts anywhere in the world (Australia, UK, Canada, USA, etc.) are welcome to apply for this challenging opportunity! Relocation available for top candidates.

If you are interested and have experience with RULEBURST / SOFTLAW / HALEY RULES contact us or send your resume to

Careers8@BizRules.com

+1 305.994.9510

Call or email Rolando directly - not to me.

SDG

jco