A method for knowledge representation and management is disclosed which
has particular but not exclusive application in knowledge recovery
techniques. To help with program understanding, software maintainers use
computer aided reverse engineering (CARE) tools which utilize techniques
such as syntax analysis, structural analysis, and domain knowledge base
analysis (DKBA). Known DKBA methods are complex since the domain
knowledge recovery relies on the use of knowledge at different layers
while some elements of the knowledge at domain level is not used at all.
In the disclosed method for representing knowledge in a knowledge base,
the knowledge is represented by a set of one or more concepts and by one
or more first type of relationships between two or more or said concepts.
The method comprises dividing the set of concepts into a plurality of
sub-sets, each sub-set comprising a set of concepts related to a sub-set
of the knowledge; dividing the relationships among the sub-sets of
concepts; and providing a further set comprising all the concepts along
with a second type of relationship that provides an association between
each concept in the further set of concepts and one or more of the
sub-sets of concepts and relationships.