{"id":665,"date":"2024-08-25T14:52:33","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T14:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/?page_id=665"},"modified":"2025-03-27T13:25:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T13:25:35","slug":"perspectives-on-computing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/perspectives-on-computing\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspectives on Computing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Perspectives<\/em> Language introduces a novel and human-centered way to model and build applications in computing. It is a domain-specific language that captures how users (as roles) interact with data, each other, and the systems around them. At its core, Perspectives is designed to mirror the way people naturally understand roles, contexts, and permissions\u2014bridging the gap between human reasoning and digital logic.<\/p>

Roles and Contexts as First-Class Citizens<\/h3>

In traditional computing, entities are modeled using objects or data tables, often lacking inherent awareness of who<\/em> is interacting and why<\/em>. Perspectives shifts this paradigm by placing Roles<\/em> and Contexts<\/em> at the heart of system modeling. A Role<\/em>\u2014which can be a person, group, or system component\u2014is always understood in relation to a Context<\/em>\u2014such as an organization, process, or event. This contextual modeling allows developers to build applications that are dynamic, adaptive, and closer to real-life social and organizational structures.<\/p>

Perspectives as Access Control and View Logic<\/h3>

A key computing concept embedded in the language is access control<\/em>. In Perspectives, access is defined not by static rules but by the Perspective<\/em> one Role has on<\/em> another. This ON relation determines what properties a Role can view, update, or create in another Role. It\u2019s a fine-grained, declarative way to manage permissions\u2014similar in spirit to Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), but more flexible and embedded in the model itself.<\/p>

Additionally, Perspectives introduces Views<\/em>\u2014customized subsets of properties visible through a Perspective. This is conceptually related to database views or filtered queries, but integrated directly into the interaction model, making user interfaces and permissions consistent by design.<\/p>

Multiroles, Inheritance, and Composition<\/h3>

Roles in Perspectives can be single or multi-instance (Multiroles), which ties directly into data structure design and UI layout\u2014single instances create forms, while multiroles generate tables. Furthermore, Roles can be composed or filled by other Roles using the IN relation, much like inheritance or composition in object-oriented programming. This supports reuse and extension of behavior and properties, while also aligning with nested organizational structures.<\/p>

Decentralized Architecture and Distributed Computing<\/h3>

A standout feature of the Perspectives Platform is its support for distributed computing<\/em> without central servers. Instead of a central data store, users collaborate by exchanging messages, and each participant plays the role of a post office<\/em>, forwarding messages when others are offline. This aligns with principles of eventual consistency<\/em> in distributed systems and ensures data privacy, energy efficiency, and resilience against centralized failures or attacks\u2014key goals in modern computing architectures.<\/p>

Modeling Interaction and UI Logic<\/h3>

Perspectives also models user interface behavior<\/em> through its language. Widgets like charts, maps, images, and calendars are linked to Roles and Properties directly in the model. This leads to automatic generation of application prototypes from the model itself, reducing the need for separate UI development. The result is a highly declarative and consistent development approach, where the same logic governs data, views, and interface.<\/p>

Context-Awareness and Navigation<\/h3>

Another advanced computing concept implemented in Perspectives is context-awareness<\/em>. Because every interaction happens in a defined context and because contexts can be nested, the system can guide users in navigating complex applications. The platform\u2019s \u201cWho-What-Where\u201d model reflects a contextual computing perspective: Who<\/em> am I (role), What<\/em> can I do or see (perspective), and Where<\/em> am I or can I go (contextual navigation).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Perspectives Language introduces a novel and human-centered way to model and build applications in computing. It is a domain-specific language that captures how users (as roles) interact with data, each other, and the systems around them. At its core, Perspectives is designed to mirror the way people naturally understand roles, contexts, and permissions\u2014bridging the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-665","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/665\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modelingperspectives.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}