Sowa's research interests since the 1970s were in the field of
artificial intelligence,
expert systems and
database query linked to natural languages.
Conceptual graph Sowa invented conceptual graphs, a graphic notation for logic and natural language, based on the structures in
semantic networks and on the
existential graphs of
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. 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.
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
standard for X, the primary result is the widespread adoption of some simpler system as a
de facto standard for X." 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 respectively • The introduction of
Algol-68 resulting in
Pascal becoming the de facto standard for academic programming • The introduction of the
Ada language resulting in
C becoming the de facto standard for
US Department of Defense programming • The introduction of
OS/2 resulting in
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 == Publications ==