1. A method in a computer system for generating measurements of similarity between objects, each object having one of a plurality of types, a type having an intra-type relationship, a pair of types having an inter-type relationship, the method comprising: for each type, when the similarity of that type is based on an intra-type relationship, providing an intra-type similarity function for each such relationship that measures the similarity between objects of that type; when the similarity of that type is based on an inter-type relationship, providing an inter-type similarity function for each such relationship that measures the similarity between objects of that type based on the similarity of objects of another type; and providing a similarity function that measures the similarity between objects of that type based on any intra-type similarity functions and any inter-type similarity functions for that type; and for each relationship, providing data that defines that relationship between objects associated with that relationship; and simultaneously solving the provided similarity functions based on the relationships defined by the provided data.