Properties are inherited according to the ordering of the lattice constructed 
by : 



Exception is defined by intrinsic attributes and multiple inheritance is pro-
cessed by merging constraints. 

Module and Inheritance

A module is defined as a set of rules: 



Submodule relation  is defined among modules and rules are inherited 
according to the relation. 



Exception and multiple inheritance are also defined as for rule inheritance. 
Modules can be dynamically generated by parametric modules. 

Query and Answer 

A Quixote program (database) consists of control information, definitions 
of the subsumption relation, definitions of the submodule relation, and defi-
nitions of the rules. A query is processed as follows: 


Additional rules and relations can be added to a database with a query.



An answer is returned with assumption related to attributes. 



The derivation process of an answer can be returned as the explanation. 

Updating to a database is also specified in the program and is processed by 
an nested transaction logic. All objects in a Quixote program are persistent 
and stored in a Kappa database or a file. 


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