Improving EXISTS

The tests contributed by Peter and the discussions around them show that 
there are bugs in the spec.

The RDF Shapes working group uses EXISTS and also uses "pre-binding" 
which is a form of parameterized query(*) in SHACL [1] and the EXISTS 
mechanism is related to parametrization.

W3C process for corrections to recognized generally to be inflexible. It 
is normally to wait for the next WG to run and end which is a multiyear 
cycle - that does not fit with the RDF Shapes WG timescale.

A suggestion (from Arnaud Le Hors / RDF Shapes chair, as well as other 
people) is to use the Community Group mechanism to build consensus in 
the SPARQL community, including implementers and users.

Community Groups can publish reports. These are not W3C standards. They 
do provide a way to record consensus or alternatives. This could be used 
to supplement the SPARQL errata process [2].

Whether that is a specific CG for this one task, or using "RDF Tests" is 
a matter of refinement - for me, I prefer which ever one looks like it 
creates the better community.

Thoughts and comments?

 Andy

(*)
Parametrized queries were a feature [3][4] that didn't make the cut for 
SPARQL 1.1 because (as I recall) the working group had too much to to do 
so various features didn't get done.

[1] http://w3c.github.io/data-shapes/shacl/
[2] https://www.w3.org/2013/sparql-errata

[3] https://www.w3.org/2009/sparql/wiki/Feature:Parameters
[4] https://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-sparql-features-20090702/

Received on Saturday, 25 June 2016 15:58:48 UTC