BROWSER A User Oriented Information Retrieval System,

摘要

The BROWSER system was designed as a tool to aid in problem isolation,problem measurement and revision monitoring in the maintenance of aircraft by the U.S. Navy. This paper discusses how BROWSER's design accomplishes these goals. Since the overall system would require man-years to complete,only crucial sections of the code were implemented to demonstrate the system's feasibility. Since simplicity was a paramount design principle,it is not anticipated that expansion of the system will encounter extraordinary problems. Note however that the design process is an iterative one. BROWSER is a complex information retrieval system. The user interacts with the system in real time through a computer terminal. This is to be differentiated from retrieving the data on a real time basis. The data base which BROWSER operates on is so large that a majority of it resides on magnetic tape. The period of processing may span several days during which time the user can perform unrelated work. After processing the query, BROWSER notifies the user upon completion.