"This handbook aims to provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art of rule languages, methodologies for modeling, designing, and implementing rules, rule interoperability/interchange, and rule-based applications.

...In addition, the book fills a gap in the literature by relating the rule applications to Model Driven Architecture and ontology development on the Semantic Web."

Adrian Giurca, Brandenburg Technology University at Cottbus, Germany;
Dragan Gasevic, Athabasca University, Canada;
Kuldar Taveter, University of Melbourne, Australia
Editors

Acknowledgments

This handbook would not have been possible without the significant contributions of many individuals and organizations. We are very grateful to the members of the editorial advisory board and reviewers for their dedication in reviewing the papers and providing the authors with substantial feedback. We also thank the authors for their efforts in writing and revising their papers, and we thank IGI Global for publishing the handbook and for a great collaboration throughout all stages of the work on this special issue.

The handbook contains many practical examples, case studies, and references to external sources containing many useful tools, systems, and engines, which allow the readers to experiment with the presented research results and potentially use them in their current research and practice.

Preface

Editorial Advisory Board

The handbook features chapters authored by 54 leading experts offering an in-depth description of key terms and concepts related to rule technologies, issues and trends in business rules’ management, and rule modeling and rule interoperability technologies in modern organizations worldwide. The handbook contains 27 peer-reviewed contributions organized into three main parts.

Section I: Rule Languages and Rule Engines (9 chapters)

This part covers the topics of rule languages and rule engines. Particularly, this explores various rule formalisms (such as, description logic and logic programming), domain specific rule languages, various aspects of rule-based reasoning, modular rule languages, graphical notations for rule languages, and the rule languages for the Web.

Section II: Standards, Methodologies and Tools for Rules and Rule Systems (9 chapters)

This part is devoted to standards, methodologies, and tools for rules and rule-based systems. This includes topics such as agile development of rule systems, verification and debugging principles used in rule bases, development of Web applications, services, and reactive and rule usage in agent-oriented systems.

Section III: Rule Applications (9 chapters)

This part looks into rule applications, which spans across various application domains such as business process management, high-level agent architectures, service-oriented systems, ontology-driven applications, policy and rule languages, rules and model-driven software development techniques, and tools for rule mining and modeling.

Index of authors