Re: [RIF] Extensible Design

OK, let's take the parts of RIF that Hassan most admires and come up with
an outline for the RIF.

.........................................................................

This is a view of the RIF starting from the parts of the proposal by Boley
et al that Ait-Kaci likes.  Optional or questionable parts are in []s.


The RIF is a language for interchanging rules.

ABSTRACT SYNTAX

The basic syntactic categories in the RIF and their construction are:

1/ Atomic constructs
   - an infinite supply of constants 
   - a set of data values - both typed and untyped
   - an infinite supply of variables
   - an infinite supply of n-ary functions for each n>=1
     [should functions be typed?]
   - an infinite supply of n-ary predicates for each n>=1
     [should predicates be typed?]

   Constants, functions, and predicates are IRIs.
   Typed and untyped data values are constructed according to the abstract
   principles underlying data values in RDF.

2/ Terms - a well-founded syntactic category constructed from
   - constants
   - variables
   - data values
   - function applications - an n-ary function with an n-tuple of terms

3/ Formulae - a well-founded syntactic category constructed from
   - predicate applications - an n-ary predicate with an n-tuple of terms
   - & of a sequence of formulae
   - | of a sequence of formulae
   - N of a formula
   - n of a formula
   - A of a variable and a formula
   - E of a variable and a formula
   - = of an ordered pair of formulae
   [There may be a few more formulae constructors.]

4/ Rules - a well-founded syntactic category constructed from
   - deductive rule of an ordered pair of formulae
   - normative rule of a formula
   [There may be a few more rule constructors.]

[There may be a few more syntactic categories to support other kinds of
rules.]

INTERCHANGE SYNTAX

There will be an XML dialect that provides an interchange syntax for the
above abstract syntax.  An XML Schema will govern this dialect.

EXTENSIBILITY

Subsets of the above syntax that are of current commercial or technical
interest will be identified.  



SEMANTICS

None.

.........................................................................

Q1 (to everyone):  Is this what you want out of the RIF?

Q2 (to Hassan):  Is this what you like in the Boley et al proposal?

.........................................................................

Peter F. Patel-Schneider

 

This is a view of the RIF starting from the parts of the proposal by Boley
et al that Ait-Kaci likes.  Optional or questionable parts are in []s.


The RIF is a language for interchanging rules.

ABSTRACT SYNTAX

The basic syntactic categories in the RIF and their construction are:

1/ Atomic constructs
   - an infinite supply of constants 
   - a set of data values - both typed and untyped
   - an infinite supply of variables
   - an infinite supply of n-ary functions for each n>=1
     [should functions be typed?]
   - an infinite supply of n-ary predicates for each n>=1
     [should predicates be typed?]

   Constants, functions, and predicates are IRIs.
   Typed and untyped data values are constructed according to the abstract
   principles underlying data values in RDF.

2/ Terms - a well-founded syntactic category constructed from
   - constants
   - variables
   - data values
   - function applications - an n-ary function with an n-tuple of terms

3/ Formulae - a well-founded syntactic category constructed from
   - predicate applications - an n-ary predicate with an n-tuple of terms
   - & of a sequence of formulae
   - | of a sequence of formulae
   - N of a formula
   - n of a formula
   - A of a variable and a formula
   - E of a variable and a formula
   - = of an ordered pair of formulae
   [There may be a few more formulae constructors.]

4/ Rules - a well-founded syntactic category constructed from
   - deductive rule of an ordered pair of formulae
   - normative rule of a formula
   [There may be a few more rule constructors.]

[There may be a few more syntactic categories to support other kinds of
rules.]

INTERCHANGE SYNTAX

There will be an XML dialect that provides an interchange syntax for the
above abstract syntax.  An XML Schema will govern this dialect.

EXTENSIBILITY

Subsets of the above syntax that are of current commercial or technical
interest will be identified.  



SEMANTICS

None.