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Point 3: Ontologies as Types

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• Types "prove the absence of certain program behaviors by classifying phrases according to the kinds of values they compute" - Pierce
• Think about int age = 26. Age is an integer, that denotes inside a computer it can be added. But it also an age, a property of things like humans.
• Same with xsd:string name = "Robert Smith". This typed variable is doing double-duty as a string and a name.
• We generally use XML Schema Data Types for things like integers and The Semantic Web describe people and their ages.
• Therefore ontologies are types, since the behavior of a program could not only depend on whether Robert Smith was a string and not an integer, but also that Robert Smith was a name and not a birthday.
• If Web Services are functions and ontologies types, then we can use the typed λ calculus to describe Semantic Web Services.