Next
Previous
Point 3: Ontologies as Types
- Types "prove the absence of certain program behaviors by classifying phrases according to the kinds of values they compute" - Pierce
- Think about
int age = 26
. Age is an integer, that denotes inside a computer it can be added. But it also an age, a property of things like humans.
- Same with
xsd:string name = "Robert Smith"
. This typed variable is doing double-duty as a string and a name.
- We generally use XML Schema Data Types for things like integers and The Semantic Web describe people and their ages.
- Therefore ontologies are types, since the behavior of a program could not only depend on whether Robert Smith was a string and not an integer, but
also that Robert Smith was a name and not a birthday.
- If Web Services are functions and ontologies types, then
we can use the typed λ calculus to describe Semantic Web Services.