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Computers in behavioral science on a computer program that generates and queries kinship structures
Author(s) -
Findler Nicholas V.,
McKinzie Wiley R.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 0005-7940
DOI - 10.1002/bs.3830140409
Subject(s) - aunt , kinship , computer science , mythology , process (computing) , wife , encyclopedia , genealogy , cognitive science , psychology , sociology , history , law , programming language , classics , anthropology , library science , political science
The present work is an exercise to generate complex, inter‐related data structures from the simplest possible information source. The organization of the memory is such that updating and retrieval processes are easy to perform. To demonstrate the capabilities of the program, the first fifteen chapters of Robert Graves: The Greek Myths , Volume I were used as data source. One of the interesting results is that, in spite of the rather free mating pattern of the divine participants, Zeus and Aphrodite adhered to a Platonic relationship. Another is that Rhea is Cronus' sister, wife, grand‐aunt and daughter‐in‐law's mother at the same time. The program, written in IPL‐V in its present form, can accept a maximum of 500 separate individuals and will process an unlimited number of inquiries in one particular run. Non‐ perfect information is appropriately treated. Finally, possible extensions are briefly described.