Abstract
The existence of a formal description of any language is a prerequisite to any rigorous methods of proof, validation, or verification. This article develops a formal semantics in the denotational style for rule-based production systems. Primarily, a formal description of a generalized, hypothetical language for rule-based expert systems is developed as a base. Building on this base, it is possible to specify in detail the variations that distinguish individual real-world systems in a usable way.
