This tutorial has been designed with three kinds of reader in mind:

1. The technically savvy layman: Someone just beginning with Bayes nets, who is unfamiliar with how they work, or what they can do, but who has used computers before and who knows something about the concept of probability.
2. The engineer: The engineer or scientist who understands the basics of probability, who has heard about the powerful technology of Bayes nets, and is looking to learn how to apply it in his or her domain.
3. The Bayes net expert: The experienced Bayes net user or expert, who just wants to quickly get up to speed in using Netica.

We recommend three kinds of approaches to this tutorial, depending on your category.

1. The technically savvy layman
   • Read tutorial A1
   • Decide whether you are comfortable enough with the concepts presented in that tutorial, and if not, do a quick review of elementary probability theory before proceeding.
   • Download Netica Application and install it on your computer.
   • Proceed with the remainder of tutorial A, then do B. Reserve tutorials C and D for until you have had actual experience building Bayes nets in domains of interest to you.
   
   
2. The engineer
   • Skim tutorial A1
   • Read tutorials A2 through A4
   • Decide whether Bayes nets will solve your class of problem. To help in this regard, you may wish to check through the Norsys net library to see if similar problems have been solved using Bayes nets. If so, proceed.
   • Download Netica Application and install it on your computer.
   • Proceed with the remainder of tutorial A, then do B. Skim tutorials C and D just so you know what is available.
   • Begin building a prototype of your application. Refer to tutorials C and D as needed.
   • If you know a programming language, you may now want to read about the Netica API toolkits that are available to you. Their users guides and reference manuals are available on-line.
   
   
3. The Bayes net expert
   • Download both Netica and Netica API.
   • Skip tutorial A.1, but skim the remainder of tutorial A to get familiar with how things are done with Netica.
   • Read tutorial B, which will show you the important basics for getting immediately to work with Netica.
   • Refer to tutorials C and D as needed.