[comp.lang.smalltalk] Relations from frame-based systems and conceptual nets

px@unl.fctunl.rccn.pt (Joaquim Baptista (pxQuim)) (05/27/89)

	Latelly, there was a lot of discussion on inheritance and its
uses. I recalled that systems based on frames and their cousins,
conceptual nets (or is it the other way around?) allow the definition
of multiple relations between any pair of frames (or entities).

	I myself don't jump on the ability to define arbitrary
relations, since I believe a newcome programmer feels tempted to use
this more than necessary, and they are a costy thing to implement.

	However, a couple of ortogonal relations can straighten up a
lot of concepts which with single or multiple inheritance allways seem
messy.

	Does anyone know if any 'traditional' object oriented language
has incorporated this issue? Compilation could make a big difference
in the performance of such a system, since all the flexible frame
systems I've heard about are implemented over LISP, and are really
heavy. Some folks in here are implementing a frame system in Prolog,
but I don't expect it will be lighter than the LISP version I've seen
(KRL from carnegie Mellon).
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