> Now, suppose I wanted to classify an actual tomato (tomato1) as both a
> fruit and a vegetable, where would I add it to the above "class
> hierarchy"? (You don't need to show me actual Prolog, just adjust above
> tree)
>
Prolog is a graph, not a tree. To illustrate it as a tree misses the
point.
Humans <categorize> in trees, but our brains <think> in graphs. We freely
associate things as they need to be, with relation****ps that cannot be
categorized with a single taxonomy. Multiple overlapping taxonomies are
required. Prolog simply removes the requirement for a single taxonomy.
To solve the problem I posed, I placed the entire prolog program below,
with
the two facts you provided (Tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable).
You could just as easily have asked "Why the Tomato is both a fruit and a
vegetable," and with the addition of attributes and decision criteria, you
could have the Prolog app reply that a Tomato is, in fact, both but that
an
Apple is both a fruit and a computer. :-) If you tell me what you would
consider those criteria to be, I'll be happy to update the app to reflect.
Note: the verb 'named instance' and 'subtype' are invented. I invented
them
for this example. They could just as easily have been 'foo' and 'bar'.
named_instance(john,person).
named_instance(mary,person).
subtype(apple,fruit).
subtype(banana,fruit).
subtype(tomato, fruit).
subtype(tomato, vegetable).
--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.
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