Dear Pat, (01)
> >John,
> >
> > My point was not that one could not specify how to draw a line
> >in logic, but that specifying the line does not actually
> draw it - for
> >that you have to translate some bit stream into so motor
> action, or to
> >switch the CRT beam on at a particular point, etc.
>
> True, but...
>
> >My point being, that
> >organizations do not operate computers to make lights on the
> front flash
> >on or off, or as expensive room heaters. The meaning of a computer
> >system is always the behaviour of the organization that uses it.
>
> ... that is rather a stretch. The meaning IS the
> behavior?? No, the behavior depends (in part) on
> the meaning: but the meaning is what it is even
> if nobody acts on the information.
>
> A very basic problem with your point is that it
> seems to force us to adopt a process-based or
> procedural approach to semantics, which takes us
> exactly in the reverse direction of the evolution
> from hard-wired specific codings to assertional
> ontologies which has got us to the present. This
> much progress was hard-won, and it would be a
> great shame to be taken back to UML, or maybe
> even Fortran, by worries arising from management
> theory. (02)
MW: I think you are missing the point. Let me make a golfing analogy.
With a declarative language you can describe the golf course and
you can describe how a ball behaves when it is hit. But you can't
hit the ball. So in addition to your declarative language you need
something that executes instructions. This isn't about a process
approach instead of declarative (for me at least) but about
understanding the limits of a declarative approach. (03)
Regards (04)
Matthew West
Reference Data Architecture and Standards Manager
Shell International Petroleum Company Limited
Registered in England and Wales
Registered number: 621148
Registered office: Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom (05)
Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Mobile: +44 7796 336538
Email: matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.shell.com
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/ (06)
_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/
Subscribe/Config: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/
To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (07)
|