Re: SUO: OMG, UML and Ontologies
Francis,
I'm not sure where our disagreement lies then. Maybe in fact we
agree. Let me try to restate some points which I believe are tied together.
1. Logical languages like KIF are very expressive and ensure that we can
define precisely the semantics of the terms on our ontology.
2. Logical languages like KIF can be translated easily into less
expressive forms such as XML or UML.
3. Many people are not familiar with KIF and so they should be able to
work with the SUO in a language in which they feel comfortable.
I believe John Sowa has made this point more elegantly in previous messages
where he made a roughly equivalent assertion that we should be defining the
ontology in KIF and then automatically translating to languages of
equivalent expressiveness such as CGs, ACE or CycL as well as languages
with more limited expressiveness.
Have I still missed your point? If so, could you restate in different
terms, or use an example?
Adam
At 12:57 PM 2/28/2001 -0800, Francis G. McCabe wrote:
>Adam Pease wrote:
> >
> > Francis,
> > I agree with your assessment of the situation but not your solution. It
> > will not be difficult both to import "ontologies" from UML into KIF as well
> > as generate UML versions of the SUO.
>
>This misses the point. I am not really referring to porting UML to KIF and
>vice-versa. Nor am I making particular comments about the expressive power of
>UML versus KIF. Personally, other some technical issues, I have no issues with
>that.
>
>My point is primarily a sociological/business one: the Business world
>(where the
>Money is) is familiar with UML, and recognizes the need for a stronger
>modelling
>tool, especially when you get into inter-organizational collaboration.
>
>To get the world to use your ideas, it helps to use their language. (This is
>coming from someone who has made a profession of inventing his own languages).
>
>To paraphrase a friend and colleague: "Congratulations, you've won. We realize
>that we need you. Now, help us to solve our problems."
-----------------
Adam Pease
Teknowledge
(650) 424-0500 x571