Re: schema

Frank Manola wrote:
> 
> My own response to someone who asked
> whether an RDF Schema was a schema or an ontology would be "it's not an
> "or" kind of question".

This is my view too. My own response would be that a _specific_ RDF
Schema is an implementation (or embodiment) of a _specific_ ontology. To
the extent that an ontology can be expressed in a variety of ways,
`schema' is the more precise term. If you speak of schemas and
ontologies in general terms then they tend to become interchangeable.

Perhaps you can use the words `program' and `algorithm' to illustrate a
similar contrast.

For these reasons it seems right that we should talk about schemas (the
embodiment) and WebOnt should talk about ontologies (the abstract).


-- 
Martyn Horner <martyn.horner@profium.com>
Profium, Les Espaces de Sophia,
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Received on Friday, 26 April 2002 08:06:20 UTC