Recent advances in computer technology have made possible the development and application of expert systems. Expert systems are special computer software applications that are capable of carrying out reasoning and analysis functions in narrowly defined subject areas at proficiency levels approaching that of a human expert.

The technology that makes the development of expert systems possible is the rapid advance of microelectronics in providing fast, powerful supermicrocomputers which can manipulate LISP (an acronym for LIST Processor) language code efficiently and which have the large memory capability required by LISP.

LISP, one of the oldest computer languages being in use since 1958, is rich in programming constructs and allows programmers access to many software tools for work in Artificial Intelligence and expert systems. This paper presents currently available computer hardware for development of expert systems. Software tools for development of expert systems will also be discussed.