minor technical: are periods separators or terminators?

Appendix A.7 grammar
In rule [27] "ConstructTriples", and rule [28] "Triples",
'.' is a separator between triples.
I suggest that the period should be used as a terminator for all
triples instead.   The RDF metaphor is that each triple is
like a sentence in a natural language.  When we write English, we put
a period at the end of each sentence.  The common
representation of RDF used in examples throughout this specification
shows data triples ending in a period.  This will be a source of
user confusion if periods are a terminator in RDF but a separator in
SPARQL.

Note that your examples are not consistent about this.
Compare the query in section 2.1 "Writing a simple query" in which
the triple within the curly braces ends in a period with the example in
section 2.1.5 "Examples of query syntax" in which the triple pattern
does not end in a period.  (The example in section 2.1 is
illegal according to the current grammar.)
See also the first example of 2.3 "Triple
patterns", which shows a triple pattern ending in a period. 
 From the standpoint of using cut-and-paste to build queries, it will
be better for users if triple patterns always end in a period, rather
than having to examine the context to decide whether they need a
period or not.

Fred Zemke

Received on Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:43:54 UTC