[JSON] one data point: Anzo on the Web

(I keep repeating that I'm more interested in the other areas of our 
group's work than the JSON bits, but I keep coming back to discuss the 
JSON bits. Oh well.)

My organization offers a software product called Anzo on the Web, which 
is, among other things, a faceted browser, BI tool, and data collection 
tool that runs inside a Web browser. It works against our Anzo semantic 
middleware, and as such is all driven by SPARQL queries and RDF data.

Architecturally, Anzo on the Web is made of 3 layers:

   * Anzo.js -- this is a low-level library that communicates with the 
Anzo server and exposes various APIs for Web apps to be built upon.
   * Anzo Web Toolkit(AnzoWT) -- this sits on top of the Anzo.js library 
and acts as a Web application development framework. It adds easy ways 
to access RDF data and visualize it (declarative path-based data 
binding) as well as other app framework bits (toolbars, menus, layouts, 
etc etc)
   * Anzo on the Web (AotW) -- this is the end application that users 
interact with. It's built using the Anzo Web Toolkit.

At the highest level, end users interact with the AotW GUI. At the next 
level down, developers interact with AnzoWT, manipulating RDF via paths 
and, if they want to, dipping down to the Anzo.js level to work with 
SPARQL queries and graph APIs.

On the wire, we serialize RDF in JSON, of course. We use a flat, 
quad-based approach very similar to both the SPARQL Result Set binding 
and http://www.w3.org/2009/12/rdf-ws/papers/ws02. Anzo.js turns this 
simple serialization into graphs, etc. for upstream manipulation.

So, we would be supportive of work to standardize a simple serialization 
for triples and quads in JSON, as it would open the possibility for our 
Web framework to interoperate with other RDF middleware / RDF databases.

But, as I've said a lot, it's not by any stretch of the imagination our 
highest priority.

Anyways, just a data point,
Lee

PS While we don't use it that often, we do have functionality within the 
Anzo.js library that provides easy object-style access to the RDF data. 
We don't do it via simple JSON properties, but instead more Java-style 
with getters and setters. See http://roubenmeschian.com/rubo/?p=19 for 
some examples. Again, this is  something that we generate via our 
libraries by performing processing upon the simple, flat, RDF-in-JSON 
serialization.

Received on Friday, 18 March 2011 14:39:58 UTC