Re: [X-logic-www] X-Logic comment system live trial

[Roger B. J. <rb...@rb...>]

Responding to: Neil Nelson Tuesday, November 07, 2000 3:49 PM

> I need to make some time to review your work to date and
> utilize the enhancements you have made to X-logic.org.

No rush.

> Though you seem to have the progress of internal production
> objectives under control, I was wondering how X-logic
> should be marketed/advertised to obtain the larger community
> of which you were previously speaking, the extenral objectives.
> The idea of ``if we build it, then they will come'' perhaps
> needs to be reinforced with ``why is it that people will come
> and then let those people know that they should come''.  If you
> come to X-logic then your life will be better for the following
> reasons.

Yes.
When I started the X-Logic project, which was my first attempt at
starting an OpenSource project, I had intended to make a good
web site first, so that people would understand what the project
was about.

However, I already had lots of words on other web sites, and
I felt that the best way to get an open source project off the
ground is to get some coding done and deliver a prototype.
So without getting very far on the propaganda I started formal
modelling, and then, modelling barely started moved on to
coding in SML.
(I might say that it took me quite a bit of hacking about to
get an "open source" way of building the web site from XML
sources which incorporated the formal modelling stuff, you can
see that the whole thing is already a bit complicated).

There was a specific rationale for getting into code which
relates to the modelling.
X-Logic depends on having XML vocabularies which are
suitable for defining the semantics of other XML vocabularies.
One intended semantic basis was higher order set theory,
and a rich higher order set theory can be defined in XML
by a cascade of language extensions which corresponds
to the HOL logic and then the various theories developed
in that logic.
So I wanted to be able to export theory heirarchies as
language definitions in XML (from ProofPower, Isabelle or
Cambridge HOL).
Then I would get most of the language definition in XML
from the work I had already done on GST.

Anyway, I ran into difficulties, and this ground to a halt.
The difficulties mainly related to my ability to keep going
without having any involvement from anyone else.
So in the summer I had a pause, and then I started looking
at the application domain and getting much more proactive
in trying to establish dialogue.

I only really started looking at X-Logic again when you
started asking questions about it, and I am at present progressing
X-Logic and my portal project with equal vigour.

So far X-Logic has not ben promoted at all, since I never
got to the point where I the story hangs together well enough
(except perhaps in my head).
When it comes to that point, there are three different kinds
of reason why people might take an interest.
(1) If we did go on to making the X-Logic.org site into
a general logic portal, then this would be a reason for
coming to the site independent ot the X-Logic project
itself.

(2) when more of the words are in place I think the
X-Logic site will be full of interesting ideas and that some
people will come just out of interest.
I also think that there are lots of prospective PhD projects
which could be based on or related to X-Logic and so it might be
worth making this clear for any postgrads who are still making
their minds up what to do.

(3) so this leads to the next level of interest, which is that
X-Logic will be an exiting project to work on.
So, again, the web site need to help people identify how
they can contribute and get something out of it.

however, for hackers rather than philosophers the interest
in a project is very much tied up with what it will do in the end.
So this brings us to the applications, and the fact that eventually
people will come to the X-Logic site:

(4) because they want to dowload and use the software!

And so far as this goes the project is currently weak in terms
of specific credible applications.
My inclination is to focus on the X-Logic query language and
to aim to prototype query engines as early as possible.
This fits in with the "make-a-difference" portal as an application
since the query engine would be the most relevant bit of
X-Logic for that application.

X-Logic query language, to a first approximation is to XML query
languages what logic query languages are to database query languages.
Except that I would expect X-Logic-QL to subsume regular XML
query languages and to deliver a prototype built over a regular
XML query engine which provides the full functionality of the regular
system plus more.
What the more is needs a bit of work to explain.

> This corresponds somewhat to either promoting a system that
> may be widely applied and/or promoting an application that is
> an example of how the system may be applied.

Yes.  We have to do both I think, but the web site at present
does neither very well.

My view is that it will be some time yet.

Roger