Teaching artificial intelligence using web-based applications

Instructors teaching courses in artificial intelligence are challenged to illustrate how various topics covered in class can be applied to everyday computing applications. As an instructor of an artificial intelligence course, one can often sense a student's disconnection between the weak algorithms covered and the mechanisms possible for merging them into typical information systems, including client management systems, resource scheduling systems, financial applications, and fraud detection systems. Lisp and Prolog have withstood as the favorite choices for implementing AI methods discussed in an artificial intelligence course, but they lack means for input conversion and validation, and output formatting. Furthermore, their GUI capabilities are very limited. This paper describes a web-based shell interface that addresses these issues and provides the student with insight into how AI algorithms can be embedded within broader applications.