Re: [ontolog-forum] Common Logic Controlled English (CLCE)

["Adrian Walker" <adriandwalker@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim --

You wrote....

My general unease with CLCE--whose goals I applaud--is that it may be
entirely too easy for readers to apply common sense and common usage of
words--when the CLCE statement includes neither--thereby drawing
unintended conclusions.  ("It's not what we don't know that hurts, it's
what we know that ain't so.")  Hopefully, not an insoluble problem, but
definitely a difficult one.

There's actually something that mitigates the problem in an English-on-Logic system.  

So long as the English sentences are tied bidirectionally and
computationally to predicates, one can extract proof trees and map them
into English for explanations.  Then, a conclusion that appears
surprising, or just plain wrong, can be explained at the business or
scientific level, rather than by trying to read program traces.  

As you may know, this works fine in the Internet Business Logic system [1], which supports uncontrolled English 

 I'll leave it up to John Sowa to respond on behalf of CLCE.  

Anyone know if Attempto controlled English has an explanation feature?

                                           
Cheers,   -- Adrian

[1]  A Wiki for Executable Open Vocabulary English
Online at www.reengineeringllc.com    Shared use is free

Adrian Walker
Reengineering

On 3/19/07, Horning, Jim <Jim.Horning@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

John,

Reading this, a thought popped into my head: If every employee directly
reports to a manager, who does the CEO directly report to?  Not the
Board, because it is not an employee.  There's probably a constraint
somewhere against cycles in the reporting graph, so not to him/herself.
Is directly reports a partial function?

My general unease with CLCE--whose goals I applaud--is that it may be
entirely too easy for readers to apply common sense and common usage of
words--when the CLCE statement includes neither--thereby drawing
unintended conclusions.  ("It's not what we don't know that hurts, it's
what we know that ain't so.")  Hopefully, not an insoluble problem, but
definitely a difficult one.

I trust that you are familiar with I.D. Hill's wonderful paper "Wouldn't
it be nice if we could write computer programs in ordinary English--or
would it?"  BCS, The Computer Bulletin, vol. 16, no. 6, June 1972, pp.
306--312.  In Neville Holmes' words, "It's a pity that [this] splendid
article ... has not been more widely read."  I can't even locate an
online copy.

Near the end, Hill says, "I agree that it is desirable that people
should be able to approach a computer without having to 'change gear'.
But I would start at the other end--not teaching computers English, but
teaching people to communicate with each other (NOT in ordinary
conversation, but only when giving instructions) in a more precise way."
I take that to also be one of your goals?

Jim H.

-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John F.
Sowa
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2007 8:36 AM
To: [ontolog-forum]
Subject: [ontolog-forum] Common Logic Controlled English (CLCE)

[snip]

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