Flora-2 is an
open source semantic rule-based system for
knowledge representation and reasoning.
The language of the system is derived from
F-logic,[1]HiLog,[2] and
Transaction logic.[3] Being based on F-logic and HiLog implies that object-oriented syntax and higher-order representation are the major features of the system. Flora-2 also supports a form of defeasible reasoning called Logic Programming with Defaults and Argumentation Theories (LPDA).[4] Applications include intelligent agents, Semantic Web, knowledge-bases networking,
ontology management, integration of information, security policy analysis, automated database normalization, and more.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
Flora-2 relies on the
XSB system for its inference engine. The design and architecture of Flora-2 are described in a number of works.[11][12][13][14]
Details of the system and its use are described in the Flora-2 User's Manual.[15] Flora-2 is available for all major computing platforms, including
Linux and other flavors of
Unix,
Microsoft Windows, and
Mac OS X.
History
Flora-2 is a successor to the Flora system (1998–1999) and incorporates the experience gained developing and using the original Flora system. The Flora-2 project started around year 2000 by Guizhen Yang and Michael Kifer. In later years it was led by Michael Kifer and had many other contributors.
Projects using Flora-2
TaOPiS is a social semantic Web application for supporting self-organizing communities.[16][17][18]
Baze is a database development environment similar to
Access and
Base.
^Y. Zou, T. Finin, H. Chen (2005).
F-OWL: An Inference Engine for Semantic Web, Formal Approaches to Agent-Based Systems, Lecture Notes in Computer Science v. 3228, Springer Verlag.
^M. Schatten, M. Cubrilo, J.Seva (2009)
Dynamic Queries in Semantic Wiki Systems, Central European Conference on Information and Intelligent Systems (CECIIS-2009), University of Zagreb.