Knowledge representation: Logical, philosophical, and computational foundations

A visionary in the field of knowledge representation, John Sowa captures the current states of the art while introducing influential new ideas, such as his own concept of "frame" for representing knowledge - widely accepted by professionals and academics. This definitive new text offers broad and original coverage of the foundations of knowledge representative. Sowa, the recognized authority in his field, integrates logic, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science into this study of knowledge and its translation to a computable form. The book emphasizes the logical principles that underlie the diverse techniques and nations of artificial intelligence, database design, and object-oriented programming. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, Sowa includes a great deal of information on philosophy and linguistics. Each new idea is defined when first mentioned, and all the formalism is developed in the body of the text or summarized in an appendix. Highlights: -Examples are illustrated in several computer languages-rules, frames. Prolog, SQL, Java, and CLIP-so that readers can learn to apply the theoretical concepts to real world situations using available software;no previous knowledge of any language or system is assumed. -Logic is presented in both the standard predicate calculus notation and the more readable conceptual graph notation;both nations are summarized in an appendix. -Every theoretical topic is illustrated with practical examples, including 175 exercises ranging from informative to challenging and even entertaining: a hotel reservation system is the basis for a continuing series of exercises at the end of each chapter. -A final chapter on knowledge acquisition and sharing shows the theory can be used to integrate knowledge bases and exchange knowledge across heterogeneous systems. -Includes and extensive, up to date bibliography for further research and study.