Using Functors as Format Converters

Format differences present a significant challenge to the interoperability of Text Analysis tools. It is essential to consider format conversions within a robust theoretical framework that can effectively manage these conversions while ensuring that they adhere to specific properties. This paper presents an approach based on “functors” to address format conversion for electronic textual documents. This method ensures that the properties of text and tools are preserved during the process. Functors are key concepts in Category Theory as they enable us to reformulate problems from a category where they are complicated to solve to another category where solutions are more easily attainable. The main concept of this paper is to model a specific scenario. Within the category of documents that conform to a particular format f, there arises a need to parse a document D using a Text Analysis (TA) tool t that cannot interpret the format f. The challenge can be solved with the help of format conversion from f to f′, where f′ fits with t. However, we propose and discuss a method that uses functors to “transform” D and t so that the transformed t can read D with f′. .