+1 from me, despite my still sparse understanding of semantic Web stuff.
If there's significant XML processing involved, might I suggest you
consider using Axiom/C from Axis2/C? That's the XML Infoset model we use
and its fast and works. Plus I'm sure you can help improve it :).
Thanks,
Sanjiva.
On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 17:16 +0100, Leo Simons wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This is a proposal to start a rdf database server project at apache.
>
> What do you think?
>
> cheers!
>
> - Leo
>
> ----
> = summary =
>
> TripleSoup is the simplest thing that you can do to turn your apache
> web server into a SPARQL endpoint.
>
> TripleSoup will be an RDF [2] store [3], tooling to work with that
> database, and a REST [4] web interface to talk to that database using
> SPARQL [5], implemented as an apache webserver module.
>
> {{{
> Target: TLP
> Sponsor: Incubator PMC
> Champion: Leo Simons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Mentors: Dirk-Willem van Gulik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Ben Hyde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Stefano Mazzocchi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Leo Simons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Resources: SVN: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/
> triplesoup/
> Website: http://incubator.apache.org/triplesoup/
> Jira: http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/TRIPLES
> Wiki: http://wiki.apache.org/triplesoup/
> Mailing lists:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Moderators: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Initial committers:
> Dave Beckett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, redland author
> Dirk-Willem van Gulik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Ben Hyde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Stefano Mazzocchi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Andrea Marchesini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, b store
> author
> Alberto Reggiori <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, rdfstore author
> David Reid <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Leo Simons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Initial source: mod_sparql, commercial triple store,
> existing open source triple store
> Known risks: None
> Technologies: c
> Reference: http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/TripleSoupProposal
> }}}
>
> = Proposal details =
>
> == Technology (basics) ==
>
> What is RDF? It is just about any kind of data, represented as
> triples of
> (subject, predicate, object), usually with a rich vocabulary
> describing the
> semantics of the data (with the vocabulary typically also encoded as
> triples).
>
> This data has a representation as RDF/XML as well as using other
> formats such
> as N3, and a query language SPARQL for searching through it. See [6]
> for an
> overview.
>
> So if it is just some data in some format, why does it need a special
> server? Because RDF data is fundamentally not constrained to a
> "file", and
> there often is no "resource identifier" that readily identifies
> something as a
> "document" which can be served up over HTTP.
>
> So why the REST interface? RDF is one of the building blocks proposed
> for the
> "semantic web", and that's why a system that works well with/over
> HTTP is
> needed from the start.
>
> == Technology (concrete) ==
>
> This is just an example. Imagine that there is an application
> "someapp" on
> the host foo.example.com which provides access to information about
> books,
> and you want to get a list of those books (their URIs) and the names
> of the
> books.
>
> {{{
> $ telnet foo.example.com 80
> SELECT /someapp HTTP/1.0
> Host: foo.example.com
> Query-Language: http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/CR-rdf-sparql-query-20060406/
> Accept: application/sparql-results+xml, rdf/xml, rdf/n3
>
> PREFIX books: <http://example.org/book/>
> PREFIX dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
> SELECT ?book ?title
> WHERE
> { ?book dc:title ?title }
>
> HTTP/1.0 200 Ok
> Content-Type: application/sparql-results+xml
> Content-Length: 1234
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <sparql
> xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#";
> xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#";
> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/sparql-results#";>
> <head>
> <variable name="book"/>
> <variable name="title"/>
> </head>
> <results ordered="false" distinct="false">
> <result>
> <binding name="book">
> <uri>http://example.org/book/book6</uri>
> </binding>
> <binding name="title">
> <literal>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</literal>
> </binding>
> </result>
> </results>
> </sparql>
>
> Connection closed by foo.example.com
> $
> }}}
>
> It turns out there's only one book in the database in this example.
> (Sample data taken from http://www.sparql.org/). David Reid has some
> code that
> does something not unlike this already [7], implemented as a httpd
> module,
> using the Redland library [11,12] as its backend store.
>
> == What would you use TripleSoup for? ==
>
> * It could be a backend for piggy bank [8].
>
> * It could be a backend for the next version of wikipedia.
>
> * It could be a backend for an "open" version of iTunes or IMDB.
>
> * It could be the backend for the information management system of the
> Dutch ministry of water management [9].
>
> * It could be the backend for projects.a.o [10] and similar
> applications.
>
> * Most importantly, it could be a backend for dozens of useful new
> innovative
> projects that no-one has envisioned yet.
>
> == The initial source ==
>
> RDFstore is a standalone RDF storage system implemented as a C
> library, licensed
> under the ASL 1.1. It has perl bindings. Find its distribution at [15].
>
> mod_sparql [7] is an in-development apache module that implements a
> SPARQL
> endpoint. It is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. It uses
> redland as a
> backend. The SVN repository can be found at [7].
>
> B is an in-development storage backend for Redland implemented as a
> standalone
> C library. It is currently a closed source codebase. A code snapshot
> can be
> found at [16].
>
> == The initial committers ==
>
> Dirk-Willem, Ben, Stefano, David and Leo are ASF members who
> hopefully need no
> introduction.
>
> Dave Beckett is the primary author of the Redland RDF application
> framework.
>
> Alberto Reggiori is the primary author of rdfstore, an rdf store
> developed by
> asemantics [13], which will be contributed to TripleSoup. He is a
> partner at
> asemantics.
>
> Andrea Marchesini is the primary author of B, a storage backend for RDF
> developed at Joost [14], which will be contributed to TripleSoup.
>
> All initial committers have experience working on open source
> projects. They
> work for at least 5 different companies.
>
> == TripleSoup as an apache project ==
>
> We think TripleSoup will have to reference dozens of specifications
> from the
> W3C (XML, RDF, OWL, SPARQL, their standards for URIs, and more) and
> from the
> IETF (HTTP, URL, URI, URN, and more), will make use of or integrate
> with quite
> a few existing open source projects (like the redland RDF libraries
> as well as
> apache apr&httpd). As such, it seems like TripleSoup should fit in
> really well
> at apache.
>
> The responses we got from various members of the RDF and semantic web
> communities so far when discussing this proposal with them have all been
> quite positive, and we expect and hope there'll be quite a few people
> new to apache joining the project soon after it starts.
>
> Most importantly, we think this project will be useful, innovative, and
> fun!
>
> = References =
>
> {{{
> [1] http://incubator.apache.org/
> [2] http://www.w3.org/RDF/
> [3] these are often called "triple stores"
> [4] http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/
> rest_arch_style.htm
> [5] http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-query/
> [6] http://www.betaversion.org/~stefano/papers/ac2006.1.pdf
> [7] http://david-reid.com/repos/public/mod_sparql/
> [8] http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Piggy_Bank
> [9] http://www.wadi.nl/uk/
> [10] http://projects.apache.org/
> [11] http://www.librdf.net/
> [12] http://svn.librdf.org/repository/
> [13] http://www.asemantics.com/
> [14] http://www.joost.com/
> [15] http://rdfstore.sourceforge.net/downloads/RDFStore-0.51.tar.gz
> [16] http://opensource.joost.com/libb/
> }}}
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
--
Sanjiva Weerawarana, Ph.D.
Founder & Director; Lanka Software Foundation; http://www.opensource.lk/
Founder, Chairman & CEO; WSO2, Inc.; http://www.wso2.com/
Director; Open Source Initiative; http://www.opensource.org/
Member; Apache Software Foundation; http://www.apache.org/
Visiting Lecturer; University of Moratuwa; http://www.cse.mrt.ac.lk/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
