Preference Handling— An Introductory Tutorial

We present a tutorial introduction to the area of preference handling—one of the core issues in the design of any system that automates or supports decision making. The main goal of this tutorial is to provide a framework, or perspective, within which current work on preference handling—representation, reasoning, and elicitation—can be understood. Our intention is not to provide a technical description of the diverse methods used but rather to provide a general perspective on the problem and its varied solutions and to highlight central ideas and techniques.