On 2/13/2015 8:19 AM, Erick Antezana wrote:
> @John: you said that the critical distinction is between logic and
> ontology. What would be the counterpart for master data? Would logic
> be a foreign (or unusual) component to master data? MD relies on
> constraints, which in principle have some logic... (01)
I don't want to get hung up on words. In my 1984 book, I was one
of the early adopters of the word 'ontology' for AI and DB theory.
But if the O-word confuses people, I'd get rid of it. (02)
I keep emphasizing the continuity between those fields: (03)
1. Every version of logic and every logical operator is an
abstraction from the words and syntax of natural languages. (04)
2. Everybody speaks "logic" every day of their lives. The words
'and', 'or', 'not', 'if-then', 'some', and 'every' cover all
of first-order logic. If you add 'may', 'can', and 'must',
you're speaking modal logic. (05)
3. Anybody who uses tree diagrams for relating types or classes is
using a version of the Tree of Porphyry. That tree came from
an intro to Aristotle's logic and ontology in the 3rd century AD. (06)
4. Logical notation became very mathematical in the 19th century.
But mathematical notation is also an abstraction from NLs.
In medieval manuscripts, the word 'et' was abbreviated by '&',
which was sometimes simplified to '+'. The notation '2+2=4'
is an abbreviation for 'Two and two is four'. (07)
Fundamental principle: Anybody who adopts a systematic method
for analyzing specifications and mapping them to executable code
is using logic and ontology. It's irrelevant what you call it. (08)
But -- and this is a very big *BUT* -- whenever you do anything,
it's helpful to look at what the experts in the field have done.
If you don't, you're just reinventing a wobbly version of the wheel. (09)
John (010)
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