To me, there is no doubt that a rule engine is just another kind of inference engine. (And forward-chaining production system is not the only kind of rule engine. MYCIN, the grand-daddy of expert systems, is a backward-chaining rule system.)
However, as you see from the responses, many people use "rule engine" and "inference engine" synonymously. So when you see the term "inference engine," you have to look at the context to decipher what the author/company means. Another crowd may use the term "reasoner" synonymously with "description logic reasoner." With best regards, Samson On May 1, 2010, at 6:58 PM, Ernest Friedman-Hill wrote: > OK, so now you've got three answers, which I might summarize as > > 1) They're the same > 2) A rule engine is a kind of inference engine > 3) An inference engine is a kind of rule engine > > Take your pick! :) > > > On May 1, 2010, at 10:52 AM, Sashi Kumar wrote: > >> i have doubt, are rule engine and inference engine same thing??? >> or rule engine is a inference engine?? >> >> >> >> -Sashi >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > --------------------------------------------------------- > Ernest Friedman-Hill > Informatics & Decision Sciences Phone: (925) 294-2154 > Sandia National Labs > PO Box 969, MS 9012 [email protected] > Livermore, CA 94550 http://www.jessrules.com > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users [email protected]' > in the BODY of a message to [email protected], NOT to the list > (use your own address!) List problems? Notify [email protected]. > -------------------------------------------------------------------- >
