Rule Interchange Format

The Rule Interchange Format ( RIF short ) is a W3C Recommendation in the context of the Semantic Web. Rules are used in the Semantic Web to formalize knowledge. Thus a program can deal with them, the rules must be described in a well-defined rule description language. From this description languages ​​, there are several, and RIF serves rules from these languages ​​in other to translate. Closely associated with RIF are the standards OWL and RDF. The working committee for this standard was established on 7 November 2005 and the format adopted on 22 June 2010 as the standard.

Regulate

Computers can only draw by following certain guidelines logical conclusions. A rule is a construct having the structure " IF ... THEN ... ", which expresses a conclusion. The rules of logic, allow a computer then, to close the first part of the control to the second part. An example of a rule is "If B is the brother of A and A is a woman, then A is the sister of B". In a formal language that fact is expressed with predicates: "IF brother ( B, A) AND women (A) THEN sister (A, B) ". With this expression, but we have already committed ourselves to one language. RIF would now be used to translate this phrase into another language.

RIF dialects

As with natural languages, dialects even in formal languages ​​.

The Basic Logic Dialect (RIF -BLD ) used Horn formulas. The Production Rule Dialect (RIF - PRD) formalized production rules. The Core Dialect (RIF -Core) is a common subset of RIF -BLD and RIF - PLD.