[sc34wg3] Re: Mathematical model (was SAM-issue term-scope-def)

[Sam Hunting]

On Tue, 16 Jul 2002, Ann M Wrightson wrote:

> A warning for us is the formal (in the sense of symbolic logic) model of the
> ODA standard, which was a nice piece of applied research concerning the
> logical formalism used (i.e. gained the people involved some good academic
> brownie points), but was no good that I ever knew about to anyone engaged in
> using the standard.

A hearty "me too" re: this cautionary tale...

I don't disrespect formalism (or formalisms) but it is important to
remember that (at least for us) they are and should be means to an end,
and not ends in themselves.

A lemma to Biezunski's Principle ("There's no point writing a standard
that noone can understand") would be "as informal as possible -- and no
more informal" (along the lines of Einstein's "as simple as possible, and
no simpler." (By "informal" I mean "written in non-obfuscatory prose.")

Sam Hunting
eTopicality, Inc.

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