Re: Question regarding subselect

On 1 May 2009, at 09:43, Seaborne, Andy wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: public-rdf-dawg-request@w3.org [mailto:public-rdf-dawg-
>> request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Steve Harris
>> Sent: 1 May 2009 08:51
>> To: SPARQL Working Group
>> Subject: Re: Question regarding subselect
>>
>> Yes, that's my fault, I think I created that wiki page - SubQuery
>> would have been a better name, and was my intention. It's SQL legacy
>> where the only query verb is SELECT. Well... actually there's SHOW,
>> but it's a bit different and you can't do sub-shows.
>>
>> SubASKs don't have to go in a FILTER, they're also useful in WHERE
>> clauses, assuming they project either a solution with no bindings  
>> (for
>> true) or no solutions (for false). Which I believe matches the SPARQL
>> algebra (it matches my implementation of ASK, at least).
>
> The result from ASK is a boolean.
>
> We can make it go in patterns - like UNSAID would have - it's a  
> filter in disguise
>
> But then ({}) and () (that's a solution of one row, no bindings and  
> a solution of no rows) for true and false work so you get the right  
> answers.

Sorry, I was being a bit lax in what I wrote (pre-coffee). I meant  
that the result of the WHERE part of the ASK is ({}) or (). Inside my  
implementation it looks a lot like SELECT /*nothing*/ WHERE { ... }  
LIMIT 1. The ASK verb translates that into boolean true or false.

I may be wrong on the projection though, is it actually ({}+)? Or is  
there an implied LIMIT 1?

>> I'm not convinced FROM { CONSTRUCT ... } achieves anything, but it  
>> may
>> aid composability.
>
> Observation: If this is a SELECT with a FROM/CONSTRUCT, putting the  
> pattern of the CONSTRUCT onto the front of the SELECT pattern will  
> expose the same information (won't it?).  Currently, a CONSTRUCT  
> template can generate bNodes and introduce new constants but other  
> wise it's the same variables as the pattern.

Yes, that was my impression too.

- Steve

-- 
Steve Harris
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Received on Friday, 1 May 2009 09:20:47 UTC