USING REFLECTION TECHNIQUES FOR FLEXIBLE PROBLEM-SOLVING (WITH EXAMPLES FROM DIAGNOSIS)

Flexible problem solving consists of the dynamic selection and configu ration of problem solving methods for a particular problem type, depen ding on the particular problem and the goal of problem solving. In thi s paper, we propose an architecture that supports such flexible proble m solving automatically. For this purpose, problem solving methods are described in a uniform way, by an abstract model of components, which together define the functionality of the methods. Such an abstract mo del is used for dynamic selection and configuration of the problem sol ving methods. The proposed architecture for flexible problem solving c onsists of well-known reflection techniques: two object-meta relations , a definable naming mechanism and the axiomhood and theoremhood refle ction rules. We have succeeded in using standard meta-architecture tec hniques to enable flexible problem solving.