non-disjoint value spaces for numeric datatypes

The RIF WG's primary mission is interchange, and interoperability between RIF 
and OWL is both an internal goal as well as, we believe, a goal of the semantic 
web community in general.  We believe that the semantic web standards should 
settle on a common interpretation of XML Schema datatypes.

We have reviewed the OWL definitions for the XML schema datatypes and have found 
them acceptable for RIF with one exception:  we cannot work with the 
redefinition of xsd numeric datatypes with overlapping (non-disjoint) value 
spaces.  While we all agreed the idea of e.g. "1.0"^^xsd:double and 
"1"^^xsd:decimal being the same entity makes sense, RIF adds a set of builtin 
functions and predicates to its chosen xsd's and these are based on a wide 
implementation base that assume disjointness of xsd value spaces.  Breaking 
these implementations would negatively impact interchange and significantly 
raise the "barrier to entry".

-RIF WG

-- 
Dr. Christopher A. Welty                    IBM Watson Research Center
+1.914.784.7055                             19 Skyline Dr.
cawelty@gmail.com                           Hawthorne, NY 10532
http://www.research.ibm.com/people/w/welty

Received on Friday, 23 January 2009 21:13:58 UTC