Re: 2nd Draft response to LC comment 30 (FH4)

Christine,

Christine Golbreich wrote:
> Thanks.
> 
> All seems good. Howvere, I'm not sure that the second section "The
> primary motivation of changing from the OWL 1 abstract syntax (AS)
> ..."  is needed in that response. Unless there is extra info that I
> don't know or missed, AS vs FS was not expliciley raised in the 2
> quoted emails (1st or 2nd). I'd be inclined to remove it to remain
> focused on their explicit content and not to extend our response to
> that.
> 

Frank explicitly raised that in

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-owl-comments/2009Feb/0014.html

see point (b) at the end of the mail. My draft addresses both the
original comment and this one, hence we have to answer this.

> Nevertheless, since I believe it's highly relevant to document this
> issue somewhere in our docs, we may add something similar in the
> Syntax or/and in  NF&R. I have added it in the new drafted section 3
> of NF&R [1].
> 
> [1] http://www.w3.org/2007/OWL/wiki/New_Features_and_Rationale#Other_Design_Choices_and_Rationale
> 

I will be a bit vaguer than that. That we will add something on this
issue into the F&R is good to point out. But I would not want to refer
explicitly to any URI yet, because the text therein may not be final yet
and if Frank goes there _today_, it may raise more confusions.

I had some extra discussion with Alan and Ian yesterday, I will prepare
a slightly reworded version of the answer later today. Stay tuned.

Thanks

Ivan

> 
> Christine
> 
> 2009/2/19 Ivan Herman <ivan@w3.org>:
>> After the discussion yesterday, here is my draft. (The wiki page has
>> also been updated).
>>
>> Ivan
>>
>> -------------------------------
>> To: Frank van Harmelen <Frank.van.Harmelen@cs.vu.nl>
>> CC: public-owl-comments@w3.org
>> Subject: [LC response] To Frank van Harmelen
>>
>> Dear Frank,
>>
>> Thank you for your comment
>>
>> <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-owl-comments/2009Jan/0037.html>
>> on the OWL 2 Web Ontology Language last call drafts.
>>
>> We also note the 'addendum' to your original comment in
>>
>> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-owl-comments/2009Feb/0014.html
>>
>> And we thank you for helping us avoiding further confusion on this issue.
>>
>> Indeed, as you note in your second mail, the current Functional Syntax
>> (FS) notation uses the _:x syntax to denote anonymous individuals. This
>> is a consequence of the way the new, functional syntax works.
>>
>> The primary motivation of changing from the OWL 1 abstract syntax (AS)
>> to the OWL 2 FS was that the FS is closer to the syntax used in first
>> order logic, which makes various specification issues as well as
>> relating OWL 2 abstract constructs to the general literature easier. As
>> the primary role of the FS is to _define_ the structure of OWL 2 (and
>> not necessarily to serve as a serialization syntax), the clarity of the
>> syntax was an important factor for choosing it.
>>
>> As for the usability of AS in OWL 2: if used as an exchange syntax then,
>> of course, OWL 1 ontologies written in AS may be input to OWL 2 tools
>> and remain valid ontologies. But we must emphasize that this is an issue
>> of the tool providers: the only _required_ exchange syntax for OWL 2
>> ontologies being RDF/XML, it is up to the tools to decide whether they
>> would accept ontologies serialized in AS (or in FS, for that matter).
>>
>> We hope this answers your concerns on this particular issue
>>
>> Please acknowledge receipt of this email to
>> <mailto:public-owl-comments@w3.org> (replying to this email should
>> suffice). In your acknowledgment please let us know whether or not you
>> are satisfied with the working group's response to your comment.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Ivan Herman
>> on behalf of the W3C OWL Working Group
>>
>> --
>>
>> Ivan Herman, W3C Semantic Web Activity Lead
>> Home: http://www.w3.org/People/Ivan/
>> mobile: +31-641044153
>> PGP Key: http://www.ivan-herman.net/pgpkey.html
>> FOAF: http://www.ivan-herman.net/foaf.rdf
>>
> 
> 
> 

-- 

Ivan Herman, W3C Semantic Web Activity Lead
Home: http://www.w3.org/People/Ivan/
mobile: +31-641044153
PGP Key: http://www.ivan-herman.net/pgpkey.html
FOAF: http://www.ivan-herman.net/foaf.rdf