From: Drew McDermott ([email protected])
Date: 04/05/02
One very brief answer to why use DAML as opposed to XML is that a set of
DAML statements by itself (and the DAML spec) can allow you to conclude
another DAML statement whereas a set of XML statements, by itself (and the
XML spec) does not allow you to conclude any other DAML statements. To
employ XML to generate new data, you need knowledge embedded in some
procedural code somewhere, rather than explicitly stated, as in DAML.
For example, the triples
(motherOf subProperty parentOf)
(Mary motherOf Bill)
when stated in DAML, allows you to conclude
(Mary parentOf Bill)
based on the logical definition of "subProperty" as given in the DAML
spec. The same information stated in XML does not allow you to assert the
third fact. XML itself provides no semantics for its tags. One might
create a program that assigns similar semantics to a "subProperty" tag, but
since that semantics isn't part of the XML spec, applications could be
written which conform to the XML spec, and yet do not make that assertion.
Adam
You've hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned. Why not
crank out a little white paper?
-- Drew
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