Re: draft response MK-1 (Fwd: Proposal for simplifying FILTER semantics)

And fairly obviously, it changes queries using bound().

	Andy

On 02/05/11 17:16, Axel Polleres wrote:
> thanks andy,  fair points, let me know if you want to edit any of those into the draft reply,
> otherwise, I'd send tomorrow whatever I find on the wiki then.
>
> best,
> Axel
> On 2 May 2011, at 16:34, Andy Seaborne wrote:
>
>> Fine although I'd note:
>>
>> [[Comment:
>> I am aware that this proposal comes at a very late stage, but I think it is still feasible to do it.
>> ]]
>>
>> 1/ Worth pointing out that this is outside the charter of the WG - the web page notes it but trivialises it.
>>
>> 2/ He raised this on the 4store list where it was pointed out that
>>
>> :locatedIn+
>>
>> would work.  That only addresses the specific example, but then much of argument seems to be that messy data leads to messy queries.
>>
>> 3/ Inference can address "locatedIn" as a transitive relationship.
>>
>> 4/ DAWG did consider binding filters.  The style in the spec was preferred.
>>
>> 	Andy
>>
>> PS The proposal, as I understand it, returns junk answers if it can bind to anything in the graph that might solve the filter.  It confuses a common optimization technique with language design.
>>
>> On 02/05/11 15:28, Lee Feigenbaum wrote:
>>> I agree with this response.
>>>
>>> Lee
>>>
>>> On 5/2/2011 9:02 AM, Axel Polleres wrote:
>>>> I drafted a response for this
>>>>
>>>> http://www.w3.org/2009/sparql/wiki/CommentResponse:MK-1
>>>>
>>>> Axel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>>
>>>>> *From: *Markus Krötzsch<markus.kroetzsch@comlab.ox.ac.uk
>>>>> <mailto:markus.kroetzsch@comlab.ox.ac.uk>>
>>>>> *Date: *2 May 2011 14:00:12 GMT+01:00
>>>>> *To: *"Polleres, Axel"<axel.polleres@deri.org
>>>>> <mailto:axel.polleres@deri.org>>
>>>>> *Subject: **Re: Proposal for simplifying FILTER semantics*
>>>>>
>>>>> On 02/05/11 13:39, Axel Polleres wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2 May 2011, at 10:53, Markus Krötzsch wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 01/05/11 20:40, Polleres, Axel wrote:
>>>>>>>> OfflIist: warum funkt BIND fuer deinen use case nicht?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Fuer FILTER "=" koennte das eventuell funktionieren (fuer andere
>>>>>>> Funktionen natuerlich nicht, aber da ist auch die praktische
>>>>> Motivation
>>>>>>> nicht so stark). Was mir da nicht so klar waere ist allerdings wie
>>>>> man
>>>>>>> BINDINGS disjunktiv mit (Sub-)Queries kombinieren wuerde. So wie
>>>>> ich die
>>>>>>> Semantik verstehe werden sie immer konjunktiv mit dem
>>>>> GroupGraphPattern
>>>>>>> verbunden. Man haette dann also wieder das gleich Problem, eine
>>>>>>> Disjunktion zwischen der Gleichheit mit den Bindings (FILTER) und
>>>>>>> etwaigen anderen Patterns (BGP) im WHERE-Teil auszudruecken.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ja, aber das geht doch mit EXISTS im FILTER (auch ein neues feature
>>>>> in SPARQL1.1, dass genau deinen use case abzudecken scheint... nicht?)
>>>>>
>>>>> Das habe ich noch nicht gefunden -- wo ist denn die Semantik von EXISTS
>>>>> definiert?
>>>>>
>>>>> Markus
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>>>> From:
>>>>> public-rdf-dawg-comments-request@w3.org<public-rdf-dawg-comments-request@w3.org
>>>>>
>>>>> <mailto:public-rdf-dawg-comments-request@w3.org>>
>>>>>>>> To:
>>>>> public-rdf-dawg-comments@w3.org<public-rdf-dawg-comments@w3.org
>>>>> <mailto:public-rdf-dawg-comments@w3.org>>
>>>>>>>> Sent: Sun May 01 20:29:37 2011
>>>>>>>> Subject: Proposal for simplifying FILTER semantics
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Dear WG,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> when working with SPARQL recently, I noticed that certain
>>>>> disjunctive
>>>>>>>> queries are most cumbersome/inefficient to formulate due to the
>>>>> special
>>>>>>>> post-processing semantics of FILTER expressions. I have written up a
>>>>>>>> detailed explanation [1]. In a nutshell: it is *really* hard to
>>>>> combine
>>>>>>>> FILTERs and BGPs in disjunctions.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But the problem has a simple fix:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> * Define FILTER in such a way that it can *create* new solution
>>>>>>>> mappings, just like BGP. A FILTER would create all variable
>>>>> bindings (to
>>>>>>>> terms from the active graph) that make the filter condition true.
>>>>>>>> * Instead of applying filters after matching, the generated solution
>>>>>>>> mappings of a FILTER would directly be joined with other parts of
>>>>> the query.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Putting it like this simplifies the whole algebra, both formally and
>>>>>>>> conceptually. Moreover, I think that practical implementation are
>>>>>>>> already working like that anyway (using FILTER conditions such as
>>>>> "=" to
>>>>>>>> pre-generate results instead of waiting until the very end before
>>>>>>>> "checking" them).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The only negative effect that I see is that this would change the
>>>>>>>> meaning of variables that occur in filters but in no BGP. Currently,
>>>>>>>> such variables are considered "unbound". With the change, they
>>>>> would be
>>>>>>>> instantiated to all terms that match. Experimenting with FILTER-only
>>>>>>>> variables in some RDF stores, I merely got error messages (and
>>>>> rightly
>>>>>>>> so, since a variable that can never be bound is of little use in a
>>>>>>>> filter). So I assume that this is a corner case of little practical
>>>>>>>> relevance.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> AFAICT, all other queries would give exactly the same results
>>>>> (joining
>>>>>>>> having the same effect as filtering). So it seems that I am
>>>>> suggesting a
>>>>>>>> largely formal algebra change, but one that would make hitherto
>>>>> useless
>>>>>>>> queries very helpful (e.g. to solve the problem in [1]).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am aware that this proposal comes at a very late stage, but I
>>>>> think it
>>>>>>>> is still feasible to do it. I could help with updating the formal
>>>>> parts
>>>>>>>> of the algebra. In any case, I would like to hear the opinion of
>>>>>>>> implementers/practitioners, also re [1]. Note that I am writing this
>>>>>>>> largely as a user (and teacher) of SPARQL, so when I am investing my
>>>>>>>> time here it is merely because I am convinced that it would greatly
>>>>>>>> benefit the language.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Markus
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> [1] http://korrekt.org/page/The_State_of_the_UNION
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

Received on Monday, 2 May 2011 19:29:52 UTC