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The Object Web

The ideas of a "Semantic Web" had been around in various guises for several years prior to the Scientific American article. One precursor of the Semantic Web was the idea of "Web Objects" or the "Object Web" kicking around in the mid-1990s. The OMG was a big part of that phase of development of the technical infrastructure.

How did the Semantic Web begin ?

As most things do, the Semantic Web started small. An article in the May 2001 issue of Scientific American described a futuristic world where software agents automatically schedule an entire series of medical treatments via the Semantic Web.

The article states that:

Definition of Model

At the core of conceptual modeling is the idea of a model. The Wikipedia defines a model as "an abstract (or actual) representation of an object or system from a particular viewpoint".  [ Note: this definition has changed, but I still like the old version ]

There are three parts to the definition above - an object or system, a representation and a viewpoint. It is critical to understand the role of each element of a model.

Updated Sept 17 2008: new links

One of the great contributions to the world of business rules in the last decade is the OMG Model Driven Architecture for Business Rules. The OMG link will take you to a page listing several formats for the article. I suggest using the PDF format for Business Semantics of Business Rules, it's about 240K. They also have MS Word and RTF formats.

Some more definitions from Haley. [  Note: Haley has a new set of definitions, not not those on this page.  I like the old set of definitions much more than the new ones ].

I left in Haley's product blurbs because I think they are largely true - their list of features can be used like a checklist for evaluating other rule engines.   Haley

From a Wikipedia discussion about Osterwalder, Pigneur and Tucci's definition of the term business model (sightly reformatted to make the nine "building blocks" more visible ):

Do business rules need to be rigidly enforced ?

Advances in information technology in the last 20 years have made it easier to purchase products and services. Although the impact of information technology has been stunning, I doubt if many customers would assert that technology has made it easier to deal with rigid customer support policies and processes, quite the opposite. It can take months to correct a business process or system processing error. This is often the result of overly constrained systems that cannot adapt to changing customer requirements or circumstances.

From the W3.Org site

A terse refutation of the 10 top reasons given for not using a business rules approach, not necessarily good reasons of course.

The usual suspects include such classics as "it didn't run fast on our 486 66Mz computer in 1988" and "our rules are too complex for a rule engine [ god help'em ]" and eight other great excuses for procedural determinism.

Actually, it's not ten reasons, only nine - see item #6.

From the Oracle Business Rules fact sheet:

The Oracle Business Rules components consist of a Rules engine; a Rules SDK, and a Rule Author Tool. The Oracle Rules Engine is written in Java. It is fast and efficient and well integrated with both Java and XML.