from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
production system
<programming> A production system consists of a collection of
productions (rules), a {working memory} of {facts} and an
{algorithm}, known as {forward chaining}, for producing new
facts from old. A rule becomes eligible to "fire" when its
conditions match some set of elements currently in working
memory. A {conflict resolution strategy} determines which of
several eligible rules (the {conflict set}) fires next. A
condition is a list of symbols which represent constants,
which must be matched exactly; variables which bind to the
thing they match and "<> symbol" which matches a field not
equal to symbol.
Example production systems are {OPS5}, {CLIPS}, {flex}.
(2005-06-17)