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Re: [ontolog-forum] language ambiguity

To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Schiffel, Jeffrey A" <jeffrey.a.schiffel@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:31:33 -0600
Message-id: <ECF42862FCA16D41BFA98F8C45F0955402E27254@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Please see below.    (01)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John F. Sowa [mailto:sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 1:03 AM
> To: [ontolog-forum]
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] language ambiguity
> 
> Jakub,    (02)

 <snippage>    (03)

> The same is true for designing an airplane or a computer program.
> If everybody who walked into a design meeting had a 
> completely finished specification, it would be impossible to 
> reach an agreement on anything.  Instead, you go through a 
> period of negotiation to arrive at a reasonable plan that 
> everybody can agree to.
> 
> It's not a matter of politeness, but the normal course of 
> developing a vague idea into a finished design, which is 
> usually not completely specified until after a prototype has 
> been built and tested. (Even after a product has been 
> delivered, there are usually many changes as time goes on.)    (04)

It is rarely the case that that a design is finished, in terms of
reconciling divergent viewpoints about specifications. This is because
there are different levels of interested parties. A customer (the future
owner) may not have the same view as even the  future users (who work
for the owner). The architects may not see the same as the designers.
The hardware and software engineers have different opinions about
interpreting the original requirements and designs, and also the
technologically imposed requirements and constraints. The test group
probably wonders if anyone else is even sane :-)    (05)

Language ambiguity does lead to trade-off in design. But since no one
can be guaranteed to understand someone else, acceptance is also
trade-off. The design is a partly understood set of compromises.    (06)

> 
> John    (07)

-- Jeffrey Schiffel    (08)


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