Logic-based languages are great for expressing complex constraints
arising in system administration. However, it is also considered
axiomatic that system administrators will never use such languages. The
reason given is that they require too much mathematical training. I
would like to challenge this view. What is so hard about logic? Everyone
knows Boolean constraints. First-order logic is simply Boolean logic +
quantifiers. This is adequate for specifying a very large class of
constraints. If system administrators can handle complexities of
procedural languages like Perl, then surely a declarative language like
FOL should be a breeze, shouldn't it? In particular, I think we should
stop trying hard to sweep FOL under the rug of GUIs. Even if we could
create a GUI in which one could express all of FOL, it would be so
cumbersome that it would be much easier to use text. What do you think?
-- Sanjai
--
Sanjai Narain, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Information Assurance and Security Department
Telcordia Technologies, Inc.
1 Telcordia Drive, Room 1N-375
Piscataway, NJ 08854
732 699 2806 (T)
908 337 3636 (M)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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