On category theory as a (meta) ontology for information systems research

Authors:
Michael Johnson;C. N. G. Dampney
Affiliations:
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia;Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Venue:
Proceedings of the international conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems - Volume 2001
Year:
2001

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Abstract

Category theory is a branch of mathematics that is renowned for itssemantic power despite its very simple axiom set. The use ofcategory theory as a meta-ontology for abstract algebra via thehighly developed field of universal algebra has suggested that itbe used as a foundation for research in computing. To date it hasbeen widely used in, inter alia, the definition of abstract datatypes, the semantics of programming languages, and the design offunctional programming languages. This paper illustrates the use ofcategory theory as a meta-ontology for information systemsresearch. It is based on the authors' extensive consultancy workusing category theory to solve real problems in industrialapplications involving information systems. In addition todiscussing the role of category theory as an ontological tool forinformation systems research, the paper illustrates its use with anumber of examples including system specification, the definitionsof views and view updates, and system interoperations.