Editing John F. Sowa (section)

== Work ==
Sowa's research interests since the 1970s were in the field of [[artificial intelligence]], [[expert systems]] and [[database query]] linked to natural languages.<ref name="SoZa92"/> In his work he combines ideas from numerous disciplines and eras modern and ancient, for example, applying ideas from [[Aristotle]], the medieval [[scholastics]] to [[Alfred North Whitehead]] and including [[logical schema|database schema]] theory, and incorporating the model of analogy of Islamic scholar [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] in his works.<ref>[http://www.jfsowa.com/pubs/analog.htm Analogical Reasoning]</ref>

=== Conceptual graph ===
{{main|Conceptual graph}}
Sowa invented conceptual graphs, a graphic notation for logic and natural language, based on the structures in [[semantic network]]s and on the [[existential graph]]s of [[Charles Sanders Peirce|Charles S. Peirce]]. He introduced the concept in the 1976 article "Conceptual graphs for a data base interface" in the ''IBM Journal of Research and Development''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sowa |first= John F. |date=July 1976 |title=Conceptual Graphs for a Data Base Interface |journal=IBM Journal of Research and Development |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=336–357 |url=http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/204/ibmrd2004E.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060713193846/http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/204/ibmrd2004E.pdf |archive-date=2006-07-13 |url-status=live |doi=10.1147/rd.204.0336}}</ref> He elaborated upon it in the 1983 book ''Conceptual structures: information processing in mind and machine''.

In the 1980s, this theory had "been adopted by a number of research and development groups throughout the world.<ref name="SoZa92"/> International conferences on conceptual structures (ICCS) have been held since 1993, following a series of conceptual graph workshops that began in 1986.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Conferences on Conceptual Structures|url=http://conceptualstructures.org/confs.htm|website=Conceptual Structures|access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref>

==={{anchor|law of standards}}Sowa's law of standards===
In 1991, Sowa first stated his ''Law of Standards'': 
: "Whenever a major organization develops a new system as an official [[Technical standard|standard]] for X, the primary result is the widespread adoption of some simpler system as a [[de facto]] standard for X."<ref>[http://www.jfsowa.com/computer/standard.htm Law of Standards]</ref> 
Like [[Gall's law]], The Law of Standards is essentially an argument in favour of underspecification. Examples include:

*The introduction of [[PL/I]] resulting in [[COBOL]] and [[FORTRAN]] becoming the de facto standards for business and [[scientific programming language|scientific programming]] respectively
*The introduction of [[Algol-68]] resulting in [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] becoming the de facto standard for academic programming
*The introduction of the [[Ada (programming language)|Ada language]] resulting in [[C (programming language)|C]] becoming the de facto standard for [[United States Department of Defense|US Department of Defense]] programming
*The introduction of [[OS/2]] resulting in [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] becoming the de facto standard for [[desktop OS]]
*The introduction of [[X.400]] resulting in [[SMTP]] becoming the de facto standard for [[electronic mail]]
*The introduction of [[X.500]] resulting in [[LDAP]] becoming the de facto standard for [[directory services]]