- From: Chris Welty <cawelty@frontiernet.net>
- Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 08:13:08 -0400
- To: "Peter F. Patel-Schneider" <pfps@inf.unibz.it>
- CC: public-rif-wg@w3.org
Peter F. Patel-Schneider wrote: > From: Chris Welty <cawelty@frontiernet.net> > Subject: Re: A proposal for a unitary RIF phase 1 > Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 09:06:49 -0400 > > >> Peter F. Patel-Schneider wrote: >> >>> A Proposal for a Unitary Language for RIF Phase 1 >>> >> There are many communities in the RIF WG, I'm not sure everyone knows, >> or has the same definition for, what unitary means. Do you intend here >> anything more than RIF I will not admit infinite sentences? >> > > >From http://www.wordreference.com/definition/unitary: > > unitary > A adjective > 1 unitary > characterized by or constituting a form of government in > which power is held by one central authority; "a unitary as > opposed to a federal form of government" > > 2 one(a), unitary > having the indivisible character of a unit; > "a unitary action"; "spoke with one voice" > > 3 unitary > of or pertaining to or involving the use of units; "a > unitary method was applied"; "established a unitary > distance on which to base subsequent calculations" > > 4 unitary > relating to or characterized by or aiming toward unity; > "the unitary principles of nationalism"; "a unitary > movement in politics" > > Recent comments in the working group notwithstanding, I'm not referring to > anything political here. I'm also not referring to anything related to > units, so that leaves definition 2. > > The proposal is "unitary" because it speaks (technically) with one voice. > > I don't see the connection between "unitary" and "no infinite sentences". > Unitary is a mathematical property of representations (see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_representation) which typically holds of first-order systems that have compactness. I thought you were making a point against "infinitary" systems (see e.g. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-infinitary/), some of which are still first order by some definitions. But I see that the proper opposite to "infinitary" is "finitary" not unitary, so I was just confusing my "tary"s. However, given that "unitary" is a property of representations (I was not confused about that part) I suggest for the long run (in the event there is a long run here) to change the name. Maybe "unified"? "Grand unified"... ;-) Maybe there isn't a better choice. -Chris > > [... Other responses coming later ...] > > Peter F. Patel-Schneider > > > > -- Dr. Christopher A. Welty IBM Watson Research Center +1.914.784.7055 19 Skyline Dr. cawelty@frontiernet.net Hawthorne, NY 10532 http://www.research.ibm.com/people/w/welty
Received on Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:13:24 UTC