[rules-users] Better way to run each rule once?

[Dave Schweisguth]

James,

On Fri, Oct 09, 2009 at 06:28:21PM -0500, James Owen wrote:
> [...] The whole thing "sounds like" a procedural problem where values are
> modified and rules are fired only once. [...]

You're right, and I've felt bad about using this very powerful system in
such a limited way. Nonetheless Drools feels like an excellent fit for us:
we do have the requirement of having rules editable by non-engineers, and
Drools provides all of the structure around that that we'd otherwise have
had to come up with, plus a lot of room to grow. I've actually been
wondering whether anyone would suggest a way to solve the problem by
designing the rules and/or facts differently!

I also left out various complications: we have other classes of facts on
the LHS, and Thing's attributes appear on the LHS as well as its
unmodifiable properties. I considered a design where attributes were first-
class facts, but it seemed to run in to the same problem. I don't think any
of that goes against your basic point, however. What I wonder is whether it's
an inappropriate problem for the tool or merely inexpert use of the tool.

Cheers,

-- 
| Dave Schweisguth                           http://schweisguth.org/~dave/ |
| Home: dave at schweisguth.org            Work: http://www.nileguide.com/ |
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