Operational Principle

Technique for describing a concept through an archetypal scenario that explains how the concept fulfills its purpose

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

thinker

Michael Polanyi
studies
Philosopher who introduced the notion of operational principles of machines.

framework

Theory of Conceptual Design for Software
about
Jackson's proposed framework: software design in terms of concepts, purposes, operational principles, and criteria.
Conceptual Design Framework
implements
Jackson's central framework for understanding software design through concepts as building blocks, their purposes, operational principles, and dependence graphs
Concept Idiom
associated_with
A reusable concept pattern applicable across contexts, with known purpose and operational principle.

community

method

Operational Misfit
associated_with
Negative scenario dual to operational principle; explains what goes wrong when a concept fails to fulfill its purpose in context

concept

Purpose
associated_with
The specific goal that a concept is intended to serve; should be expressible in a short phrase.
Schedule Concept
implements
Mechanical timer concept used throughout paper to illustrate operational principle and formal modeling of concepts
Trash Concept
implements
Apple's trash concept—allowing undoing of file deletions—used as example of purpose, operational principle, and operational misfits

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

The operational principle provides a structure for defining concepts to overcome these difficulties. It gives an archetypal scenario that explains how the concept works to fulfill its purpose.quote0.849
Definition of operational principle.
The operational principle provides an archetypal scenario that explains how a concept fulfills its purpose.claim0.827
Key idea for defining concepts.
The operational principle of a concept should mention only that concept and its directly or indirectly depended concepts.claim0.812
A rule relating operational principle to dependence graph.
Occam's Principleconcept0.771
Principle that simpler models generalizing evidence are preferred; implemented via complexity minimization in free energy
Duality Principleconcept0.755
Any statement about a poset P yields a dual statement about P^∂ by interchanging ≤ and ≥; permits proof of one statement to establish its dual.
Design and engineering knowledge are not reducible to scientific principles; operational principles are needed.claim0.752
Polanyi's argument applied to software.
Precautionary Principleframework0.745
Decision principle emphasizing caution under uncertainty; mentioned as term of art and in ordinary sense.
Mach's principleconcept0.731
The idea that gravitational constant is a function of all matter in the universe; cited as an example of wholeness in cosmology.