in a short time than many larger international groups have achieved over much longer 
periods 

In addition, I noted that the effort to integrate data from a variety of biological 
databases could offer a foundation for a serious advance in science (but has not yet 
progressed to that point). When I reflect on what has been done in a fairly short time, 
and upon the difficulties in communication between computer scientists and biologists, 
I cannot help but believe that a great opportunity still exists in this area. The Japanese 
are in a position to play a significant role in what will certainly become one of the most 
significant areas of scientific research during the coming decades. 

General Reflections: 

I have always viewed the Fifth Generation Project as fundamentally heroic. I am 
astounded that five distinct PIMS were actually produced, that a complete operating 
system with associated tools was completed, and that a serious attempt was made 
to apply this technology. I vividly remember being in an audience when an American 
researcher lectured an audience that included members of ICOT on the topic of software 
engineering, basing his comments on experiences writing programs of 2000 lines or less. 
A number of us found this truly strange, given the enormous effort that went into the 
large systems developed at ICOT, yet unfortunately typical. 


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