OWL is an acronym for Web Ontology Language,
a markup language for publishing and sharing data using ontologies on
the Internet. OWL is a vocabulary extension of RDF (the Resource
Description Framework) and is derived from the DAML+OIL Web Ontology
Language. Together with RDF and other components, these tools make up
the semantic web project.
OWL currently has three flavors: OWL Lite, OWL DL, and OWL Full.
These
flavors incorporate different features, and in general it is easier to
reason about OWL Lite than OWL DL and OWL DL than OWL Full. OWL Lite
and OWL DL are constructed in such a way that every statement can be
decided in finite time, OWL Full can contain endless 'loops'.
OWL DL is based on the description logic <math>\mathcal{SHOIN} (D)</math>.
Its subset OWL Lite is based on the less expressive logic <math>\mathcal{SHIF} (D)</math>.
About the acronym
Some may claim that the correct acronym for Web Ontology Language should be WOL instead of OWL.
Others believe that
the order was chosen in honor of the character Owl from Winnie the
Pooh, who wrote his name WOL instead of OWL. In truth, OWL was proposed
as acronym that would be easily pronounced, yield good logos, suggest
wisdom and honor Bill Martin's One World Language
KR project from the 1970s. And, quoting Guus Schreiber: “Why not be
inconsistent in at least one aspect of a language which is all about
consistency”
