SWRL vs SPIN

[aziza]

Does SWRL has something like SPIN does -a Template? Is it possible in
SWRL use some general template for a rule? Let's say I have a number
of contracts which are described by SWRL rules. And all contracts have
similar structure (same properties), but value is different. So,
rather than to define a rule for each contract is it possible in SWRL
to define a general template and use some parameters to specify a
reference to appropriate contract?
Aziza

[aziza]

Does SWRL has similiar feature like SPIN does, defining a Template? Is
it possible to define some general template for rules in SWRL?
Let's say I want to describe 10 contracts with the same structure
(each contract has the same properties with the different values)
using rules. So,Is it possible to define one general rule for
describing all of them (and use some parameters to specify a reference
to specific contract)? Rather than defining 10 rules for 10 conracts?
Regards, Aziza

[Holger Knublauch]

Hi Aziza,

you may be asking the wrong mailing list on SWRL questions, but in any case here is my personal spin.

SWRL does not have anything like SPIN templates.
Nor does it have a notion of user-defined functions like SPIN has.
Nor does it implement object-oriented principles like spin:rule and spin:constraint do.
Nor does it have the rich expressivity of SPIN via SPARQL.

Overall SWRL covers basically a tiny sub-set of features of SPIN. SWRL's only "feature" is that it is intentionally limited to make it easier for some engines to optimize the performance of certain query types. But it is easy to define a sub-set of SPIN that has exactly the same characteristics. And SPIN at least gives you the choice to use these other features - if you really run into performance issues then you can always optimize some rules by hand.

Regards,
Holger

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[Scott Henninger]

Aziza; Full agreement with Holger on this. The question that needs to
be asked is how can I migrate from SWRL to updated semantic web
standards, not the other way around. For some background and
examples, see http://www.semanticoverflow.com/questions/3152/latest-best-support-for-swrl.
SWRL is an OWL-based language that has migrated to RIF BLD in the W3C
standards world.

SPIN is RDF, RDFS, and SPARQL-based, which opens the solution to a
much wider range of computational problems. Also note that with the
advent of SPARQL, SWRL has become superfluous, and therefore we (and
others) have focused our efforts on the more expressive SPARQL
standard, which has led to SPIN features.

You can use SWRL in TBC. See Help > Developing Ontologies > Semantic
Web Standards > SWRL

-- Scott