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Kind Theory Thesis by Joseph R. Kiniry In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 2002 (Defended 10 May 2002) ii © 2002 Joseph R. Kiniry All Rights Reserved iii Preface This thesis describes a theory for representing, manipulating, and reasoning about structured pieces of knowledge in open collaborative systems. The theory's design is motivated by both its general model as well as its target user commu- nity. Its model is structured information, with emphasis on classification, relative structure, equivalence, and interpretation. Its user community is meant to be non-mathematicians and non-computer scientists that might use the theory via computational tool support once inte- grated with modern design and development tools. This thesis discusses a new logic called kind theory that meets these challenges. The core of the work is based in logic, type theory, and universal algebras. The theory is shown to be efficiently implementable, and several parts of a full realization have already been constructed and are reviewed. Additionally, several software engineering concepts, tools, and technologies have been con- structed that take advantage of this theoretical framework. These constructs are discussed as well, from the perspectives of general software engineering and applied formal methods. iv Acknowledgements I am grateful to my initial primary adviser, Prof. K. Mani Chandy, for bringing me to Caltech and his willingness to let me explore many unfamiliar research fields of my own choosing. I am also appreciative of my second adviser, Prof. Jason Hickey, for his support, encouragement, feedback, and patience through the later years of my work.
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