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\section{Introduction}
\label{introduction}

\OLC\ is a networked consulting serviced developed by MIT's
Project Athena starting 1985.  

This manual describes the \OLC\ library, the programmer's interface to \OLC.
The \OLC\ library consists of a collection of C language functions which
allow the programmer to ask and manipulate existing questions.  Additional
functions are provided in the library to modify the consultant and user
databases.

Because this manual is primarily concerned with describing how to
write an application which uses \OLC, the internal workings of the
\OLC\ system are not discussed in detail.

This manual is organized into four main sections as follows:

\begin{description}
\item {\bf Overview of the \OLC\ System}.  This section describes the
      various components of \OLC, and briefly describes how they interact.

\item {\bf General Concepts}.

\item {\bf Programming Standard Applications}.  This section describes the
      \OLC\ include files, the functions available in the \OLC\
      library, and many concepts that are relevant to programming \OLC\
      applications.

\item {\bf Advanced Programming Topics}.
  This section describes more advanced topics, including how to send control
  messages to \OLC\ servers.
\end{description}
