The Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center decision-support system as a model for implementing the Arden Syntax

Abstract

Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center is implementing a decision-support system based on the Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Modules (MLM's). The system uses a compiler-interpreter pair. MLM's are first compiled into pseudo-codes, which are instructions for a virtual machine. The MLM's are then executed using an interpreter that emulates the virtual machine. This design has resulted in increased portability, easier debugging and verification, and more compact compiled MLM's. The time spent interpreting the MLM pseudo-codes has been found to be insignificant compared to database accesses. The compiler, which is written using the tools "lex" and "yacc," optimizes MLM's by minimizing the number of database accesses. The interpreter emulates a stack-oriented machine. A phased implementation of the syntax was used to speed the development of the system.