[SCL] Re: Report on Common Logic

[Murray Altheim]

pat hayes wrote:
>> Tanel Tammet wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>>> I have a few comments.
>>>
>>> The basic issue is that it would be worrisome if XML
>>> syntax in the SCL spec would give SCL-in-XML
>>> _more expressive power_ than say, SCL in KIF or
>>> "traditional" or N3 syntax or whatever.
>>>
>>> In other words, anything having any _meaning_ in
>>> SCL-XML spec should be expressible in other SCL syntaxes
>>> (at least for the purposes of our spec!)
>>
>>
>> It might be worrisome, but it's not a problem. It would only
>> be a problem if the SCL semantics were altered. Nothing I've
>> mentioned alters any of the meaning of anything. It simply
>> provides features that enable linking, interoperation,
>> transformation, etc.  It very well may have more "expressive
>> power" in that it may be more widely functional than KIF. So
>> what? I don't see any reason why an XML syntax should be
>> somehow handicapped merely because KIF or some other SCL
>> syntax can't do what it can do, e.g., link with other XCL
>> documents, or mix with other markup. On the contrary, one of
>> the reasons to create an XCL syntax is to be able to do things
>> you can't do with KIF -- why else bother then?
> 
> Yes, I agree. I also agree with Tanel, so I think (hope) that you are 
> talking past each other.
> 
>>> Hence, the nice stuff Murray was thinking about for
>>> the XML syntax should be in our report also for
>>> the ABSTRACT syntax, or not at all.
>>
>>
>> I disagree. Unless there's something in the XCL syntax that
>> alters the abstract semantics. I've never suggested anything
>> of the sort. There will be things that XCL can do that can't
>> be done in KIF, but those things won't have to do with the
>> semantics of the XCL expressions themselves.
> 
> Right, so to talk about 'do'ing here might be a bit misleading. Nobody 
> (?) is suggesting that SCL or XCL should be describning things like 
> document structure in the *model theory*, right?

Right. Two very separate things. And if you think about it, once
the XML is parsed into a computer's memory, all of that XML entity
structure is lost and you only have the organization of the objects
in memory. Then at the application level do you (as an engineer
writing software) begin dealing with the "XCL".

And while it may be hard to get an old dog to learn new tricks,
I'm going to harp on you for not including who you're responding
to. My name is not on this message, so it looks like you're
responding to Tanel, not me. I'm having trouble keeping track of
who said what, and I'm *in* the conversatino. Puh-leez?

Murray

......................................................................
Murray Altheim                    http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK               .

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