TODE : A Dot Net based tool for ontology development and editing

Abstract

Semantic Web is an initiative towards transforming the current world-wide-web such that contents over the web can be understood and processed by machines. Ontology is one of the vital components of semantic web. It provides the vocabulary of a particular domain so that web contents can be easily comprehend by machines. Over the years, a number of tools like Protege, WebODE and Ontolingua have emerged that assist ontology developers in the creation of ontologies. Most of these tools have been developed in open source languages while Dot Net community is slow to react. The developers of open source languages are actively working on creation of supporting tools like reasoners, consistency checkers and visualizers. Due to the unavailability of any Dot Net based ontology editing tool, we don't see similar type of activity in Dot Net community. We believe that a Dot Net based ontology editor can work as a catalyst and will trigger further development of supporting software in Dot Net environment. In this paper, we have proposed a Dot Net based tool for ontology development and editing called TODE. The tool provides a simplified, W3C compliant, web based environment for ontology creation.