Re: Reification as nesting

   [Pat Hayes]
   AAAArghh!!

   Is N3 syntactic sugar for RDF or not? If it is not, what relationship 
   does it have to RDF? If it is, are the triples in those subject and 
   object sets of triples asserted or not? Apparently not; so, what part 
   of RDF stops them being asserted? (Are they reified?)

   As far as I can see, RDF allows no options for a triple between being 
   asserted and being reified: you either assert a triple or you 
   describe it. How does N3 manage to slip past this rock-hardplace 
   collision?

   Of course I can see how one can fudge it by adding features to RDF 
   (contexts, or quads, or addresses, or any number of ingenious tricks) 
   but what I cannot see is how to fudge it *in RDF*.  Since N3 is 
   widely cited as a kind of proof-of-concept for the utility of RDF, I 
   would pray permission to be let in on the magic secret.

Whoa.  The whole discussion of "nesting" is based on the assumption
that RDF will be extended.  N3 is syntactic sugar for the extended
version of RDF.  What stops some triples from being asserted is the
context flag on each triple.

                                             -- Drew McDermott

Received on Friday, 8 June 2001 11:51:54 UTC