Living with CLASSIC: When and How to Use a KL-ONE-Like Language.

Knowledge Systems Laboratory
Stanford University

Abstract: Living with CLASSIC: When and How to Use a KL-ONE-Like Language

LASSIC is a recently-developed knowledge representation system that follows the paradigm originally set out in the KLONE system: it concentrates on the definition of structured concepts, their organization into taxonomies, the creation and manipulation of individual instances of such concepts, and the key inferences of subsumption and classification. Rather than simply presenting a description of CLASSIC, we complement a brief system overview with a discussion of how to live within the confines of a limited object-oriented deductive system. By analyzing the representational strengths and weaknesses of CLASSIC, we consider the circumstances under which it is most appropriate to use (or not use) it. We elaborate a knowledge-engineering methodology for building KLONE-style knowledge bases, with emphasis on the modeling choices that arise in the process of describing a domain. We also address some of the key difficult issues encountered by new users, including primitive vs. defined concepts, and differences between roles and concepts, as well as representational ``tricks-of-the-trade,'' which we believe to be generally useful. Much of the discussion should be relevant to many of the current systems based on KLONE.

Ronald J. Brachman , Deborah L. McGuinness , Peter F. Patel-Schneider , Lori Alperin Resnick , and Alex Borgida. ``Living with CLASSIC: When and How to Use a KL-ONE-Like Language,'' in John Sowa, ed., Principles of Semantic Networks: Explorations in the representation of knowledge , Morgan-Kaufmann: San Mateo, California, 1991, pages 401--456. The postscript version is available.

Return to Selected Papers of Deborah L. McGuinness.

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