RuleML

tags

Semantic Web

It is very hard to understand what's going on with RuleML.

The RuleML Initiative is an organization of people interested in rules, especially interoperable Web rules. They have contributed to efforts through OASIS to develop LegalRuleML, etc. They have also had some interaction with ISO re Common Logic. They are also a member organization of OMG, which produces SBVR. They have ALSO supported W3C's development of SWRL and RIF.

RuleML itself is a "unifying system of families of languages for Web rules" (RuleML Wiki). So, uh, it's not really a language itself, but it also kind of is. I think it's kind of like OWL in that respect but even more complicated. There's an entire tool (called MYNG) that's used to generate schemas for RuleML sublanguages based on which modules you want to include.

Particularly important families of sublanguages (I guess?) are:

• Derivation RuleML, which includes Horn logic and Datalog
  
• Deliberation RuleML, which includes Derivation RuleML plus first- or higher-order logic
  
  • Datalog RuleML, Hornlog RuleML, and FOL RuleML are three well-known languages in this family (in order of increasing expressiveness)
    
• Reaction RuleML, which includes Derivation RuleML plus production rules
  
• Consumer RuleML, which integrates both Deliberation and Reaction RuleML
  
• PSOA RuleML, which has a bunch of galaxy brain stuff about it on the wiki but I can't make head or tail of it. It is apparently pretty expressive but also pretty tractable, and there's a reasoner for it (PSOATransRun).