Hi Bijan --

Many good points in your posting.  For the list, I'll just try to pick up on one of them here.

At 02:36 AM 7/4/2005 -0400, you wrote:
don't know why it's [a reasoning chain is] so much harder [for people to understand] than for complex software in 
general. Executable specifications are in the minority of formal 
specifications are in the minority of specifications, as far as a I 
know. "Executable natural language" in the minority of all that.

Wow, I'm making a popularity argument. Whoo, how the mighty Smalltalker 
has fallen :)

The general thought here is that the mismatch between the business level and the programming level is already very expensive with conventional software.  (E.g. some years ago, the US DoD IT spend was comparable to the GNP of Australia.) Part of the cost is for techies to understand what the business folks want, and for business folks to understand what the techies have built.  Just look at the 'modelling and specification' costs on any big software project.  And consider too what happens when business requirements change while the system is being programmed.

The problem can get worse with rule systems, if we stick to the techie notations that us techies know and love.  Or it can be mitigated, if we make sure that the person writing the rules has to document what they mean at the real world business level.  If this is done by including lightweight English in the rules themselves, the rules and the documentation cannot get out of step.  We can also get English explanations of the reasoning.

We don't yet have HCI  studies to say whether this is a good approach.  As you said elsewhere in your posting, such studies are hard to do, and sometimes inconclusive.  However, a system** that supports the approach is live, online.  So, one can get an idea of the 'value proposition' (ouch!) by viewing and running the RDF and other examples provided.  One can also use a browser to write and run one's own examples.  Non-commercial use of the system is free.

                        Cheers,  -- Adrian


** INTERNET BUSINESS LOGIC (R)
www.reengineeringllc.com

Adrian Walker
Reengineering LLC
PO Box 1412
Bristol
CT 06011-1412 USA

Phone: USA 860 583 9677
Cell:    USA  860 830 2085
Fax:    USA  860 314 1029