H ? « ‹ ← → › »

Language peer sets for Protosynthex:
United States↑
United States/1960↑
Designed 1960 ↑
1960s languages ↑
Second generation↑
Early Cold War↑
Genus Ad hoc query languages ↑
Business Data Processing ↑
Ad hoc query languages↑
Interrogatory ↑
Erotetic systems ↑
Ad hoc query languages/1960↑
Interrogatory /1960↑
Erotetic systems/1960↑
Ad hoc query languages/United States↑
Interrogatory /United States↑
Erotetic systems/United States↑
Business Data Processing ↑
Business Data Processing/1960↑
Business Data Processing/us ↑

Protosynthex(ID:459/pro085)

Querying system for English test

alternate simple view

Country: United States
Designed 1960
Published: 1963
Genus: Ad hoc query languages
Sammet category: Business Data Processing

for protosynthesis

Query system for English text, based on protosynthesis, (a form of inference combined with tree-searching)

From Simmons 1965 "The approach of Protosynthex is to successively filter out more and more irrelevant information, leaving ultimately only statements which have a high probability of being answers to the question."

According to Simmons 61 reported Nov 1960: "The initial vehicle, protosynthex, will be an elementary language-processing device which reads simple printed material, and answers simple questions phrased in elementary English."

called Synthex by analogy to Memex

Places

SDC usR

Related languages

Protosynthex	→	Protosynthex		Evolution of
Protosynthex	→	Protosynthex II		Evolution of

References:

Simmons (1961) Simmons, R. F. "Synthex" p140-1 Abstract Online copy
in [ACM] (1961) [ACM] CACM 4(03) (March 1961)

Simmons, R. F. (1963) Simmons, R. F. "Synthetic language behavior" Data Process. Management, 5, 12 (1963), 11-18.
in [ACM] (1961) [ACM] CACM 4(03) (March 1961)

Simmons, R. F. and McConlogue, K. L. (1963) Simmons, R. F. and McConlogue, K. L. "Maximum-depth indexing for Computer retrieval of English language data" Amer. Documentation, 14, 1, (1963), 68-73.
in [ACM] (1961) [ACM] CACM 4(03) (March 1961)

Simmons, R. F. and McConlogue, K. L. (1963) Simmons, R. F. and McConlogue, K. L. "Maximum-depth indexing for Computer retrieval of English language data" Doc. SP-775, System Development Corp., Santa Monica, Calif. 1963
in [ACM] (1961) [ACM] CACM 4(03) (March 1961)

Simmons (1963) Simmons, Robert F. "SYNTHEX"
in Orr (ed) (1968) Orr, William (ed) "Conversational Computing", 1968

Bobrow (1964) Bobrow, D.G. "Natural Language Input for a Computer Problem Solving System", Report MAC-TR-1, Project MAC, M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass., June 1964 Online copy pdf ps Abstract Extract: Introduction Extract: SYNTHEX
in Orr (ed) (1968) Orr, William (ed) "Conversational Computing", 1968

Simmons et al (1964) Simmons, R.F., S. Klein and K.L. McConologue, "Indexing and Dependancy Logic for Answering English Questions" American Documentation 1964
in Orr (ed) (1968) Orr, William (ed) "Conversational Computing", 1968

Simmons, R. F.; Klein, S., and McConlogue, K. L. (1964) Simmons, R. F.; Klein, S., and McConlogue, K. L. "Indexing and dependency logic for answering English questions" Amer. Documentation 15, 3, (1964), pp196-204.
in Orr (ed) (1968) Orr, William (ed) "Conversational Computing", 1968

Simmons (1964) Simmons, R.F., "Answering English Questions by Computer - A Survey" SDC Report SP-1536 Santa Monica, Calif.; April, 1964
in Orr (ed) (1968) Orr, William (ed) "Conversational Computing", 1968

Simmons, R. F. (1965) Simmons, R. F. "Answering English questions by computer: a survey" p53-70 Abstract DOI Extract: Protosynthex
in [ACM] (1965) [ACM] CACM 8(01) Jan 1965

Simmons (1966) Simmons, R. F. "Storage and retrieval of aspects of meaning in directed graph structures" Extract: Introduction Extract: The Problem Extract: The Conceptual Dictionary Extract: Toward an Operational System Extract: Acknowledgments Extract: Discussion Abstract
in [ACM] (1966) [ACM] CACM 9(03) March 1966 includes proceedings of the ACM Programming Languages and Pragmatics Conference, San Dimas, California, August 1965

Simmons (1968) Simmons, R.F., J.F. Burger & R. Schwarcz "A computational model of verbal understanding"
in [AFIPS] (1968) [AFIPS] Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference FJCC 33

Sammet, Jean E. (1969) Sammet, Jean E. "Computer Languages - Principles and History" Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall 1969. p.669. Extract: Protosynthex
in [AFIPS] (1968) [AFIPS] Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference FJCC 33

Schwarcz et al (1970) Schwarcz, R., J.F. Burger & R.F. Simmons (1970). A deductive question-answerer for natural language inference. CACM, 3. Abstract DOI Extract: PILOT, SIR, STUDENT
in [AFIPS] (1968) [AFIPS] Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference FJCC 33

Stock and Stock (1973) Stock, Marylene and Stock, Karl F. "Bibliography of Programming Languages: Books, User Manuals and Articles from PLANKALKUL to PL/I" Verlag Dokumentation, Pullach/Munchen 1973 487 Abstract
in [AFIPS] (1968) [AFIPS] Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference FJCC 33

Cuadra (1975) Cuadra, Carlos A. "SDC Experiences with Large Data Bases" Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences 15(1) 1975 Abstract Extract: Protosynthex
in [AFIPS] (1968) [AFIPS] Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference FJCC 33
Resources

Memorial page for Simmons at UTA He began work in 1955 at RAND Corporation and continued in 1957 at its offshoot, the System Development Corporation, Santa Monica, where he was Head of the Language Processing Research Program until 1968. The research center that he started at SDC was one of the first in the world to investigate computer processing of natural language. He pioneered work there on question-answering systems and on natural language access to both databases and text files that has had a lasting effect on the field. His research was directed at the construction of Synthex, a computerized system to synthesize human language behavior. He wrote in 1962,

"The synthex project is an outgrowth of a longstanding interest in the conscious processes of humans. After taking the Ph.D. I had an opportunity to read freely among my interests in psychology. Many nineteenth-century explorations of conscious processes of thinking, believing, etc., caught my fancy at that time. William James' Principles of Psychology seemed to me to be a high-water mark for psychologists who were interested in the various problems of conscious psychology. The fact that the whole current of psychology has turned to the more rewarding (but to me less inspiring) study of more easily observed behavior seemed to leave a great gap in the study of human behavior. The problem then and now associated with consciousness appears to be the impossibility of formulating experimentally answerable questions. Studying cognitive processes by synthesizing them on computers seems to offer some hope that eventually we may come to understand enough about the difference between organisms and machines that a question about consciousness may be asked.''

This computational approach and metaphor for human cognition, which Robert F. Simmons did so much to originate, has had a revolutionary effect on psychology, linguistics, and philosophy, and is now emerging as a new discipline called Cognitive Science.

Search in: Google Google scholar World Cat Yahoo Overture DBLP Monash bib NZ IEEE ACM portal CiteSeer CSB ncstrl jstor Bookfinder