5 research outputs found
Metatheory of actions: beyond consistency
Consistency check has been the only criterion for theory evaluation in
logic-based approaches to reasoning about actions. This work goes beyond that
and contributes to the metatheory of actions by investigating what other
properties a good domain description in reasoning about actions should have. We
state some metatheoretical postulates concerning this sore spot. When all
postulates are satisfied together we have a modular action theory. Besides
being easier to understand and more elaboration tolerant in McCarthy's sense,
modular theories have interesting properties. We point out the problems that
arise when the postulates about modularity are violated and propose algorithmic
checks that can help the designer of an action theory to overcome them
Cohesion, coupling and the meta-theory of actions
International audienceIn this work we recast some design principles commonly used in software engineering and adapt them to the design and analysis of domain descriptions in reasoning about actions. We show how the informal requirements of cohesion and coupling can be turned into consistency tests of several different arrangements of modules. This gives us new criteria for domain description evaluation and clarifies the link between software and knowledge engineering in what concerns the meta-theory of actions