Method and mechanism for using a meta-language to define and analyze traces

1. A computer implemented process for materializing a trace in a markup language syntax, the process comprising:

creating a meta-language grammar;

creating a first trace grammar in which the first trace grammar complies with rules of the meta-language grammar;

creating a second trace grammar wherein the second trace grammar is grammatically different than the first trace grammar wherein there is a detected format difference between the first trace grammar and a second trace grammar and in which the second trace grammar also complies with the rules of the meta-language grammar;

generating one or more traces compliant with the trace grammars, in which a first set of the one or more traces is compliant with the first trace grammar and a second set of the one or more traces is compliant with the second trace grammar, the first set of the one or more traces analyzed for compliance with the first trace grammar;

identifying parsing rules based upon an analysis of the trace grammars;

parsing the one or more traces;

identifying interrelationships within the one or more traces; and

generating a new version of the one or more traces using a markup language syntax.

2. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

storing results of parsing in one or more tables.

3. The process of claim 2 in which the one or more tables comprises hash tables corresponding to keywords in the one or more traces.

4. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

building a semantic network corresponding to the identified interrelationships.

5. The process of claim 4 in which the semantic network comprises at least one link and at least two nodes.

6. The process of claim 5 in which the at least two nodes represent resources and the at least one link defines a relationship between the at least two nodes.

7. The process of claim 5 in which each of the at least two nodes is represented as a keyword-UID combination.

8. The process of claim 4 in which the semantic network is represented using a semantic network representation language.

9. The process of claim 8 in which the semantic network representation language is selected from the group consisting of SnePs, SGML, XML, and HTML.

10. The process of claim 4 in which the semantic network is persistently stored.

11. The process of claim 4 in which the semantic network is built using a semantic network builder system.

12. The process of claim 4 further comprising:

performing a search of the semantic network based upon a received query.

13. The process of claim 12 in which the semantic network is utilized to identify hyperlinks to be embedded into the new version of the one or more traces.

14. The process of claim 1 in which the new version of the one or more traces comprises a hyperlink.

15. The process of claim 1 further comprising defining a second meta-language grammar.

16. A system for materializing a trace having markup language syntax, comprising:

a first mechanism that receives a plurality of trace grammars that are based upon creation of a meta-language grammar,

the plurality of trace grammars complies with rules of the meta-language grammar, wherein the plurality of trace grammars are grammatically different than each other and wherein there is a detected format difference between a first trace grammar and a second trace grammar within the plurality of trace grammars,

the plurality of trace grammars modifiable within rules of a meta-language grammar, a parser to parse a plurality of traces complying with the plurality of trace grammars, in which parsing rules have been identified based upon an analysis of the trace grammars;

the plurality of traces comprises a first set of one or more traces that is compliant with the first trace grammar and a second set of the one or more traces that is compliant with the second trace grammar, the first set of the one or more traces analyzed for compliance with the first trace grammar;

a second mechanism to build one or more semantic networks based upon interrelationships for the plurality of traces;

a manifestation mechanism to generate at least one new version of the plurality of traces to include at least one hyperlink based upon the one or more semantic networks; and

a memory for storing data corresponding to the plurality of traces.

17. The system of claim 16 in which the parser stores results of the parsing in one or more tables.

18. The system of claim 17 in which the one or more tables comprises hash tables corresponding to keywords in the plurality of traces.

19. The system of claim 16 in which each of the one or more semantic networks comprises at least two nodes and at least one link.

20. The system of claim 19 in which each of the at least two nodes represent a resource and the at least one link defines a relationship.

21. The system of claim 19 in which each of the at least two nodes is represented as a keyword-UID combination.

22. The system of claim 16 in which the one or more semantic networks are represented using a semantic network representation language.

23. The system of claim 22 in which the semantic network representation language is selected from the group consisting of SnePs, SGML, XML, and HTML.

24. The system of claim 16 in which the one or more semantic networks are persistently stored.

25. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a network navigator mechanism to search the one or more semantic networks.

26. The system of claim 25 in which the network navigator mechanism performs a search of the one or more semantic networks based upon receiving a query.

27. A computer program product that includes a computer volatile or non-volatile medium having a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes said processor to execute a process for materializing a trace in a markup language syntax, said process comprising:

creating a first trace grammar in which the first trace grammar complies with rules of a meta-language grammar;

creating a second trace grammar wherein the second trace grammar is grammatically different than the first trace grammar wherein there is a detected format difference between the first trace grammar and a second trace grammar and in which the second trace grammar also complies with the rules of the meta-language grammar;

generating one or more traces compliant with the trace grammars, in which a first set of the one or more traces is compliant with the first trace grammar and a second set of the one or more traces is compliant with the second trace grammar, the first set of the one or more traces analyzed for compliance with the first trace grammar;

identifying parsing rules based upon an analysis of the trace grammars;

parsing the one or more traces;

identifying interrelationships within the one or more traces; and

generating a new version of the one or more traces using a markup language syntax.

28. The computer program product of claim 27 , further comprising:

building a semantic network corresponding to the identified interrelationships.

29. The computer program product of claim 27 , wherein the new version of the one or more traces comprises a hyperlink.

30. The computer program product of claim 27 , further comprising:

defining a second meta-language grammar.