As more and more information is being computerized, it is becoming harder and harder to share. When everything was on paper, people could read reports written by other people working in the same profession. But when everything is in the computer, it cannot be read without software that is compatible with the software that produced it. For highly structured information in databases and knowledge bases, the problem is getting worse. Even with identical software, the information cannot be used without a precise specification of its structure and meaning. Further progress in sharing and integrating information depends on formal methods for specifying meaning. This book reports on a project that addresses that problem: it adopts a formal language for specifying meaning as the central focus for systems analysis, design, and development. The formalism is conceptual graphs - a system of logic with a graphical representation that has a direct mapping to and from natural languages. As part of the project, the authors have studied a variety of notations and metho dologies that are being used for database design and systems analysis. They show how conceptual graphs can be used as a unifying language that can be translated to and from the other notations. Unlike older systems of logic, such as predicate calculus, conceptual graphs are a highly readable form of logic that clarifies rather than obscures the underlying relationships.

Inhalt
I Begriffsbasierte Integration von Systemanalysemethoden.- 1 Begründung.- 2 Klassifikationsschema.- 3 Interpretationsmechanismus.- II Überführung von ER-Modellen in begriffliche Graphen.- 4 Konstruktionselemente von ER-Modellen.- 5 Kompilation eines ER-Modells in begriffliche Graphen.- 6 Extraktion eines ER-Modells.- 7 Implementation der Überführungsregeln in Prolog.- III Überführung von NIAM-Modellen in begriffliche Graphen.- 8 Konstruktionselemente von NIAM.- 9 Kompilation eines NIAMModells in begriffliche Graphen.- 10 Extraktion eines NIAMModells aus begrifflichen Graphen.- 11 Implementation der Überführungsregeln in Prolog.- IV Überführung von Datenflußdiagrammen in begriffliche Graphen.- 12 Datenflußdiagramm.- 13 Kompilation.- 14 Extraktion.- V Überführung von Remora-Modellen in begriffliche Graphen.- 15 Die Methode Remora.- 16 Kompilation eines Remora-Modells in begriffliche Graphen.- 17 Extraktion eines Remora-Modells aus begrifflichen Graphen.- 18 Implementation der Überführungsregeln in Prolog.- VI Überführung von SF-Modellen in begriffliche Graphen.- 19 Die Spezifikationssprache SF.- 20 Entsprechungen für SF-Konstrukte in begrifflichen Graphen.- 21 Übersetzung eines SF-Segments in begriffliche Graphen.- 22 Entsprechungen für SF-Konstrukte in begrifflichen Graphen.- 23 Übersetzung begrifflicher Graphen nach SF.- 24 Begriffliche Basis.- Abbildungsverzeichnis.