From: Jim Hendler (jhendler@darpa.mil)
Date: 03/21/01
At 3:00 PM +0000 3/21/01, Dan Brickley wrote: >On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Peter F. Patel-Schneider wrote: > > > Hi: > > > > As I was going through the reference document last night, I again > > encountered the issue of equivalentTo. > > > > > equivalentTo has been used to make two things the same. [...] > >"make two things the same" > >You mean they weren't the same previously? (I'm assuming you don't) > >Dan > >ps. re your main point; I agree. That said, I'm tempted to punt on >generic 'equivalentTo' and just stick with specific uses (eg. >utility properties >to say that two classes have the same extension...) I think equivalento is arguably the most important DAML function for the semantic web, and I would hate to see it go. I want to be able to assert that EquivalentTo URI1:XXX URI2:YYY So that I can have translation files for my agents when they go from ontology to ontology. I want this to be an automated function, so I've been hacking an applet that lets me view ontologies (using an RDF grapher that I think Dan C wrote) and assert equivalences by clicking on the graphs. Since I, as the user, don't know whether I'm necessarily looking at classes, properties or instances, it is very simple for my applet to just assert equivalentTo. (I leave it to a later device to fix the fact that I may have done something illegal - like making a class and a property equivalent - or immoral - like creating an inconsistency). While I could do some sort of analysis to determine if these things were properties, classes, etc - it is easier not to, and I'm sure I'm not the only lazy tool developer out there. -JH p.s. Having said all that, the applet code is minimal and likely not to be completed until after my life at DARPA -- I really was just trying to prove to myself it was possible... p.s. Dr. James Hendler jhendler@darpa.mil Chief Scientist, DARPA/ISO 703-696-2238 (phone) 3701 N. Fairfax Dr. 703-696-2201 (Fax) Arlington, VA 22203 http://www.cs.umd.edu/~hendler
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