Knowledge Explorer News
No. 14
July 18, 1999

KE runs 3x faster

1. KE version 3.8
KE v3.8 runs about 3x faster than v3.7. The increased speed is primarily due
to three factors:

`context -- eliminating unnecessary context switches`
`conversion -- eliminating unnecessary format conversions & reparsing`
`clustering -- new data structures which cluster together all the`
`characteristics necessary to process events, relations,`
`methods (logically the same, but much faster)`

On my previously mentioned family history knowledge base, there is another
4x improvement obtained by replacing four questions by a single command.
The previous and current execution times for my 700 person / 1800 infon
knowledge base are:

`v3.7 v3.8`
`read knowledge base 69 min 21 min`
`generate report 25 min 2 min`

2. other recent changes

`!clock new command displays date & time to nearest second`
`unparse() converts internal KR representation to external string format`
`now included with ksc command`

3. coming soon
Icon version 9.3.2 has just been released for Linux. The Windows version should follow soon.
New features supported in this version include:

`scrolling console window`
`directory file access`
`internet file access`
`object oriented support`