Universal Information
One consequence of the “semantic problem” is that it is very difficult to reuse digital information. Most applications use proprietary data formats and have limited information sharing abilities. For example, we have to enter our address repeatedly into applications and websites. It is usually not possible to just “hand over” the whole address to an application in some way, we need to fill in all the fields manually.
Most humans can read and understand information in a paper notebook. That is not possible with applications, if we store our information digitally as plain text it is very unlikely that an application can pick the right record and understand it. Similarly, there is no way how multiple applications could share a common database if they do not follow exactly the same protocol when storing and retrieving data.
The situation is even worse for complex information, like a plan for a project or a purchase order. Today, there is simply no way how we could express complex information in a way that computer software can understand universally. If an information is available and the computer understands its meaning, it will most likely be able to assist you in reusing that information without having to input it again.
Havel is semantic, computers understand the meaning of information expressed in Havel. It is also a general language that is capable of expressing arbitrary information without having to follow strict protocols. That makes Havel expressions universal in the sense that they are application independent. Any application that speaks Havel should be able to understand an expression that has been created by another application or a user manually as long as the meaning of the information is clear. That is very similar to humans, as long as they speak the same language they can exchange information without much protocol.
Working with Havel, just “pull” out the information you need from the repository you have it stored in and “hand” it to the application, of course assuming that the target application speaks Havel. Your address might be saved as a separate record. Your CV might be created automatically using history data. A purchase order might be determined automatically from a project you have been organizing using Havel.
Even if the target application does not speak Havel, there might be functionality available in your information universe that will help you to export the information into a format that the target application will understand.
This post is part of a comprehensive introduction into SRDM, graph languages and Havel.
Continue reading: Universal Knowledge Base
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