Re: RDF API convergence? was Re: ANNOUNCE: RDF.NET

>>>Dan Brickley said:
> In the light of this and other implementation activities
> recently announced on www-rdf-interest, I reckon the time is fast
> approaching that we lock various RDF API implementors in a room and
> only let them out when there's a common strawman API. 

I've got one consistent and documented API in Redland across several
languages - C, perl, python [ and skeleton Java]. Are you proposing
this kind of thing or in some neutral way such as in prose?

More practically, you are asking for the DOM and SAX equivalents for
RDF.  I see SAX as designed from the Java world and is pretty
specific to that language; other languages mostly use expat and have
interfaces to that which are derived from an expat header file.  At
what level do you propose a common API - conceptually or user level
with compile/linkable systems, which I see as very hard in some
languages.

> My inclination is to spawn a new mailing list, eg. www-rdf-api, 
> [...]

I'd rather not, if there is going to be discussion, it should be here
until it becomes a problem.

> [...] I'm personally having a hard time
> remembering the subtle differences between the different RDF APIs I
> use. Documenting these (not that I'm volunteering!) would in itself be
> hugely useful...

So Dan, it's an education and documentation problem.

.. back to writing a paper on Redland  ...

Dave