Attempto Controlled English (ACE) is a controlled natural language, i.e. a subset of standard English with a restricted syntax and a restricted semantics described by a small set of construction and interpretation rules.^[1] Here are some simple examples: Controlled Natural Languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce or eliminate both ambiguity and complexity. ... English grammar is a body of rules specifying how meanings are created in English. ...

 (1) * Women are human. (2) Every woman is a human. (3) A man is a human. (4) A man tries-on a new tie. If the tie pleases his wife then the man buys it. 

ACE construction rules require that each noun be introduced by a determiner (a, every, no, some, at least 5, ...). This excludes (1). ACE interpretation rules decide that (2) is interpreted as universally quantified, while (3) is interpreted as existentially quantified. Other interpretation rules resolve the anaphoric references in (4): 'the tie' and 'it' of the second sentence refer to 'a new tie' of the first sentence, while 'his' and 'the man' of the second sentence refer to 'a man' of the first sentence. Thus an ACE text is a coherent entity of anaphorically linked sentences.

ACE can serve as knowledge representation, specification, and query language, and is intended for professionals who want to use formal notations and formal methods, but may not be familiar with them. Though ACE appears perfectly natural – it can be read and understood by anybody – it is in fact a formal language. Knowledge representation is a research and application domain in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, as well as in the knowledge management & knowledge engineering. ... A specification language is a formal language used in computer science. ... Query languages are computer languages used to make queries into databases and information systems. ... In mathematics, logic, and computer science, a formal language is a set of finite-length words (i. ...

The Attempto Parsing Engine (APE) translates ACE texts unambiguously into discourse representation structures DRSs that use a variant of the language of first-order logic.^[2] DRSs can be further translated into other formal languages, for instance RuleML, OWL DL^[3], FLUX constraint handling rules, and CLP rules. Translating DRSs into the standard language of first-order logic allows users to reason about ACE texts, for instance to verify, to validate, and to query them. Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) is an extension of First-order predicate calculus that was created by Hans Kamp in 1981 in order to examine the contextually dependent meaning of a discourse. ... It has been suggested that Predicate calculus be merged into this article or section. ... In mathematics, logic and computer science, a formal language is a set of finite-length words (i. ... The Rule Markup Language (RuleML) is defined by the Rule Markup Initiative in permitting both forward (bottom-up) and backward (top-down) rules in XML for deduction, rewriting, and further inferential-transformational tasks. ... OWL is an acronym for Web Ontology Language, a markup language for publishing and sharing data using ontologies on the Internet. ... It has been suggested that Predicate calculus be merged into this article or section. ... Inference is the act or process of deriving a conclusion based solely on what one already knows. ... In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property, using formal methods of mathematics. ... In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property, using formal methods of mathematics. ... In general, a query is a form of questioning, in a line of inquiry. ...

ACE and its related tools have been used in the fields of software specifications, theorem proving, text summaries, ontologies, rules, querying, medical documentation and planning. In 2004, ACE was adopted as the controlled language of the EU Network of Excellence REWERSE (Reasoning on the Web with Rules and Semantics). In systems engineering and software engineering, requirements analysis encompasses all of the tasks that go into the instigation, scoping and definition of a new or altered system. ... Automated theorem proving (currently the most important subfield of automated reasoning) is the proving of mathematical theorems by a computer program. ... Automatic summarization is the creation of a shortened version of a text by a computer program. ... This article is about the philosophical meaning of ontology. ... Rule has several meanings: A rule in mathematics is something which is always true. ... In general, a query is a form of questioning, in a line of inquiry. ... Electronic patient chart of a health information system Health informatics or medical informatics is the intersection of information science, medicine and health care. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Controlled Natural Languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce or eliminate both ambiguity and complexity. ...

History

ACE has been under development at the University of Zurich since 1995 and in 2006 is in its fifth version. The University of Zurich (in German: Universität Zürich) is the largest university of Switzerland, in the city of Zurich. ...

See also

• Natural Language Processing
• Knowledge Representation
• English Grammar

Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of artificial intelligence and linguistics. ... Knowledge representation is a research and application domain in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, as well as in the knowledge management & knowledge engineering. ... English grammar is a body of rules specifying how meanings are created in English. ...

References

PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ...

External links

• Project Attempto
• Controlled Natural Languages
• TRANSLATOR: A TRANSlator from LAnguage TO Rules