Building abstractions:

Abstract: "The use of abstraction has been largely informal. As a consequence, it has often been difficult to see how or why a particular abstraction works. This paper attempts to help correct this trend by presenting a formal theory of abstraction. We use this theory to characterise the differ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bundy, Alan (Author), Giunchiglia, Fausto (Author), Walsh, Toby (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Edinburgh 1990
Series:University <Edinburgh> / Department of Artificial Intelligence: DAI research paper 506
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Summary:Abstract: "The use of abstraction has been largely informal. As a consequence, it has often been difficult to see how or why a particular abstraction works. This paper attempts to help correct this trend by presenting a formal theory of abstraction. We use this theory to characterise the different types of abstraction that can be built; the different classes of abstractions we identify capture the majority of abstractions of which we are aware. We end by proposing a method for automatically building one very common type of abstraction, that used in Abstrips; our proposal is motivated by consideration of the various formal properties that such a method should possess."
Physical Description:11 S.