The History of Partial Order Planning and RubyPOP

For our case, we'll explore partial-order planning in a classical planning environment. Such an environment is fully observable (as opposed to only partially so) and deterministic (as opposed to having randomness, or being stochastic). Further, the space is finite and static in nature- it does not change in the middle of deliberation. Finally, the environment is "discrete (in time, action, objects, and effects), " as opposed to continuous along any of these axes (Russell, 375. For further reading on the characteristics of environments, see Russell pages 41-42). To understand what partial-order planning entails, it might be helpful to know what planning is, and then describe totally ordered planning. To that end, planning is "the task of coming up with a sequence of actions that will achieve a goal " (Russell, 375). That is a fairly straightforward-exactly as we would expect if we weren't speaking of computers and programs. An example is simple: given a set of actions I can perform, which ones do I choose (and in what order should I apply them) in order to reach my goal? I've got to get to work this morning- what should I do to get there? I might need to wake up, turn off the alarm, shower, take off my wet pajamas and put on something suitable for doing business, and so on, until I reach work in the morning (or, afternoon if it was a late night). However, we wouldn't consider having our agen