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The linked article is describing a world where you encode SPARQL in HTTP query parameters and get back RDF+XML. It really is attempting to be an API for queryin

by rspeer 9y ago

The linked article is describing a world where you encode SPARQL in HTTP query parameters and get back RDF+XML. It really is attempting to be an API for querying everything, but querying nothing well. You can write reasonable REST APIs for RDF. You can even formalize it with JSON-LD if you care to.

mindcrime 9y ago
You can write reasonable REST APIs for RDF. You can even formalize it with JSON-LD if you care to. True. It's unfortunate that many people have such a strong mental association with RDF and RDF+XML. The Semantic Web community largely moved on from emphasizing use of RDF+XML something like 10+ years ago, in favor of N3 or Turtle, and - more recently - JSON-LD. But people still hear "Semantic Web" and think "oh, that's that heavy weight XML bloated thing..."
- zmonx 9y ago
  When I hear "Semantic Web", I think: That's the heavy weight XML bloated thing that has, something like 10+ years ago, moved towards N3 or Turtle, more recently to JSON-LD, and will, in due time, hopefully arrive at Prolog syntax as a very natural and convenient representation that is at the same time amenable for direct processing in a programming language that is eminently well suited for the domain of knowledge representation. Which, I admit, may raise the question why Prolog syntax was not chosen all along, given that its syntax was invented and even standardized decades ago. By the way: A few members of the consortium were well aware that Prolog syntax would have been an excellent choice for RDF. Only a few though.
  - mindcrime 9y ago
    Which, I admit, may raise the question why Prolog syntax was not chosen all along, given that its syntax was invented and even standardized decades ago. By the way: A few members of the consortium were well aware that Prolog syntax would have been an excellent choice for RDF. Only a few though. Good point.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> You can write reasonable REST APIs for RDF. The specification for SPARQL over HTTP is a reasonable REST API for RDF. (Though it highlights the need for a safe HTTP method like GET but with a request body, and overloads POST for queries for that purpose in addition to the god-awful query-string GET encoding.) It's not JSON-for-all-the-things, but JSON is a stupid way of encoding a general-purpose query language. It does support JSON (among other encodings) for responses, though.

by rspeer 9y ago

mindcrime 9y ago

You can write reasonable REST APIs for RDF. You can even formalize it with JSON-LD if you care to. True. It's unfortunate that many people have such a strong mental association with RDF and RDF+XML. The Semantic Web community largely moved on from emphasizing use of RDF+XML something like 10+ years ago, in favor of N3 or Turtle, and - more recently - JSON-LD. But people still hear "Semantic Web" and think "oh, that's that heavy weight XML bloated thing..."

zmonx 9y ago
When I hear "Semantic Web", I think: That's the heavy weight XML bloated thing that has, something like 10+ years ago, moved towards N3 or Turtle, more recently to JSON-LD, and will, in due time, hopefully arrive at Prolog syntax as a very natural and convenient representation that is at the same time amenable for direct processing in a programming language that is eminently well suited for the domain of knowledge representation. Which, I admit, may raise the question why Prolog syntax was not chosen all along, given that its syntax was invented and even standardized decades ago. By the way: A few members of the consortium were well aware that Prolog syntax would have been an excellent choice for RDF. Only a few though.
- mindcrime 9y ago
  Which, I admit, may raise the question why Prolog syntax was not chosen all along, given that its syntax was invented and even standardized decades ago. By the way: A few members of the consortium were well aware that Prolog syntax would have been an excellent choice for RDF. Only a few though. Good point.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> You can write reasonable REST APIs for RDF. The specification for SPARQL over HTTP is a reasonable REST API for RDF. (Though it highlights the need for a safe HTTP method like GET but with a request body, and overloads POST for queries for that purpose in addition to the god-awful query-string GET encoding.) It's not JSON-for-all-the-things, but JSON is a stupid way of encoding a general-purpose query language. It does support JSON (among other encodings) for responses, though.