Intended for students, practitioners, and researchers in computer science, engineering, and the broad range of knowledge-based systems applications areas, this four-volume comprehensive reference addresses what's needed to create such systems efficiently and cost-effectively. To list the specific treated topics would require several long paragraphs, because knowledge-based systems are ubiquitous -- in medicine, engineering, manufacturing, business, and economics, for example; and this burgeoning field is key to the economy of the new millennium. Under the leadership of editor Leondes (emeritus, U. of California, Los Angeles), 41 contributions from an international cast of experts are arranged in volumes devoted to implementation methods (v.1), optimization methods (v.2), computer techniques (v.3), and applications techniques (v.4). A sampling of specific topics: a communication model for module-based knowledge systems, using knowledge distribution in requirements engineering, dynamic structuring of intelligent computer control systems, case-based reasoning, automatic learning approaches for electric power systems, expert systems in foundry operations, and the integration and visualization of assembly sequences in manufacturing systems.