Luv: A Programming Language for Describing Human Relationships

Much of the Internet's value stems from its ability to connect human beings to each other. The success of social networking sites, dating services, and shopping services depends critically on the ability to define human wants or relationships. Unfortunately, today's software languages were not designed to support the definition and description of human relationships. As such, things that humans consider essential in understanding relationships - such as tracking the progress of a relationship over time - are difficult to implement using today's programming languages. Luv is a programming language designed to support the creation of what we call human relationship applications. Human relationship applications include social networking sites and dating services. Luv has been used to develop a prototype dating site and define prenuptial contracts. Luv is still in the early stages of development. In this paper we describe the syntax and semantics as they now stand and possible applications.