DATR

The Default ATtribute Representation Language (DATR) defines a mighty tool to create inheritance lexica by the reference method of passing on of properties of one level to another, more general level incorporating different ways of generalisations. By defining properties a semantic net is established enabling referencing and passing on of information. This is a major advantage to SGML systems which can have numerous links but all of them are of a static nature. Consequently linking in SGML documents works hierarchically, rules can be linked to but application of rules is not possible without further human processing. A more comprehensive comparison of DATR to SGML can be found in section 3.1.

DATR provides a way of knowledge representation. The implemented way of passing on of information to another level enables the implementation of rules so that a DATR-query can use certain default rules for certain lexical categories. By means of the Inheritance Lexicon with Exceptions (ILEX) approach exceptions can also be implemented. Consequently only some basic information needs to be coded for each lexica item, regular formation of other information can be included in general rules.

Links are not obvious in DATR-queries, the result of a query combines the advantages of DTP-presentations with the advantage of easy updating and most other advantages of SGML coding. Only crossreferences that work interactively are not possible with the current DATR-compiler and inference engines.

Thorsten Trippel Tue Nov 16 15:01:58 MET 1999