Re: Restpark - Minimal RESTful API for querying RDF triples

Thanks Paul,

That is exactly what my point was entirely about. Many service don't expose
their SQL interface, so why should Linked Data?

Regarding this Linked Data API, it seems to still require a SPARQL
endpoint. In fact it states that it is a proxy for SPARQL. Would it simply
be possible to implement this API without SPARQL on top of a regular
database that contains triples?


On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 12:56 PM, Paul Groth <p.t.groth@vu.nl> wrote:

> Hi Luc,
>
> We use the Linked Data API at : http://code.google.com/p/linked-data-api/
> and it's php implementation puelia: http://code.google.com/p/puelia-php/
>
> There's also a java implementation.
>
> The linked data platform is another thing: see http://www.w3.org/TR/ldp/
>
> Thanks
> Paul
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Luca Matteis <lmatteis@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> For me it's still a bit unclear where the "Linked Data Platform" API is
>> defined. Is it a set of strict rules? For example, I've heard it's a way of
>> matching a triple where a specific URI appears in its subject or object.
>>
>> Any links on where this is defined?
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 12:27 PM, Leigh Dodds <leigh@ldodds.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Hugh,
>>>
>>> On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 10:56 AM, Hugh Glaser <hg@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
>>> wrote:
>>> > (Yes, Linked Data API is cool!, and thanks for getting back to the
>>> main subject, although I somehow doubt anyone is expecting to read anything
>>> about it in this thread now :-) )
>>>
>>> I'm still hoping we might return to the original topic :)
>>>
>>> What this discussion, and in fact most related discussions about
>>> SPARQL as a web service, seems to overlook is that there are several
>>> different issues in play here:
>>>
>>> * Whether SPARQL is more accessible to developers than other forms of
>>> web API. For example is the learning curve, harder or easier?
>>>
>>> * Whether offering query languages like SPARQL, SQL, YQL, etc is a
>>> sensible option when offering a public API and what kinds of quality
>>> of service can be wrapped around that. Or do other forms of API offer
>>> more options for providing quality of service by trading off power of
>>> query expression?
>>>
>>> * Techniques for making SPARQL endpoints scale in scenarios where the
>>> typical query patterns are unknown (which is true of most public
>>> endpoints). Scaling and quality of service considerations for a public
>>> web service and a private enterprise endpoint are different. Not all
>>> of the techniques that people use, e.g. query timeouts or partial
>>> results, are actually standardised so plenty of scope for more
>>> exploration here.
>>>
>>> * Whether SPARQL is the only query language we need for RDF, or for
>>> more general graph databases, or whether there are room for other
>>> forms of graph query languages
>>>
>>> The Linked Data API was designed to provide a simplified read-only API
>>> that is less expressive than full SPARQL. The goals were to make
>>> something easier to use, but not preclude helping developers towards
>>> using full SPARQL if that's what they wanted. It also fills a
>>> short-fall with most Linked Data publishing approaches, i.e. that
>>> getting lists of things, possibly as a paged list, possibly with some
>>> simple filtering is not easy. We don't need a full graph query
>>> language for that. The Linked Data Platform is looking at that area
>>> too, but its also got a lot more requirements its trying to address.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> L.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Leigh Dodds
>>> Freelance Technologist
>>> Open Data, Linked Data Geek
>>> t: @ldodds
>>> w: ldodds.com
>>> e: leigh@ldodds.com
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr. Paul Groth (p.t.groth@vu.nl)
> http://www.few.vu.nl/~pgroth/
> Assistant Professor
> - Web & Media Group | Department of Computer Science
> - The Network Institute
> VU University Amsterdam
>