Re: JSON-LD terminology

Richard,

I share your concern about the dangers of (what is perceived to be) a 
different data model.  I'm not so sure that it is as bad as you paint it 
though.

Looking at:

   http://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld-syntax/#linking-data

how would you change or tighten up the language in that section?

The doc does a reasonable job of saying "JSON Object" when it means a 
the concept from JSON - maybe there are some places it does not get the 
naming quite right (editorial).


EricP - You are noted in "Issue 2" as suggesting "that the definitions 
of subject and object, while being practical, are at odds with 
[RDF-CONCEPTS] use in their roles within a triple."  Care to say more?


Personally, I have always found that the data model of RDF is not too 
complicated.  The main issue is the total amount of technology a web 
developer has juggle rather than any specific technology.

When faced with the task of learning RDF, the Turtle-as-records clicks. 
  URIs and prefix names can be a early confusion - JSON-LD does not 
change for the better or worse.

The other confusion is "what is a graph?" A graph is a set of nodes and 
a set of edges.  It can be drawn as a picture.  An RDF graph does not 
include an explicit set of nodes - it's just the edge set.  A node label 
can be an edge label.   This is again the same in JSON-LD and RDF Concepts.


[[
B. Relationship to other RDF Formats
B.1 RDF
]]

RDF is not an RDF format!


	Andy


On 27/08/12 10:05, Richard Cyganiak wrote:
> I've posted a comment on a JSON-LD issue about the choice of
> terminology in JSON-LD. I think that this discussion belongs onto the
> WG mailing list and shouldn't just be buried in the issue tracker, so
> I'm posting the message here too. This is about the fact that JSON-LD
> defines its own data model consisting of “subjects”, “objects” and
> “properties”, as can be seen here:
> http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/json-ld/raw-file/default/spec/latest/json-ld-syntax/index.html#linking-data
>
>  The original comment is here:
> https://github.com/json-ld/json-ld.org/issues/47#issuecomment-8050318
>
>  Best, Richard
>
>
>
> I think that the decision to define a new data model for JSON-LD is
> unfortunate. It leads to a rather complicated multi-levelled
> terminological mess. Let me illustrate.
>
> We have an “object” in a JSON document. This describes a “subject” in
> the JSON-LD graph. That's a “node” in the corresponding RDF graph.
> Which, in turn, refers to a “resource” in the domain of interest.
> (RDF graphs have “subjects” and “objects” too, but they are something
> different.)
>
> An object in a JSON document may have name-value pairs. The “name”
> denotes a “property” in the JSON-LD graph. In the corresponding RDF
> graph, this “property” becomes a “triple”. This triple encodes a
> “statement” about the domain of interest. (And the domain of interest
> also has “properties”, but they are something different.)
>
> Explaining any RDF syntax is already a difficult endeavour because
> there are three levels of terminology to deal with:
>
> * the syntax level (e.g., “elements” and “attributes” and “tags” in
> RDF/XML, or “objects” and “arrays” and “name/value pairs” in
> JSON-LD)
>
> * the data model level (RDF graph terminology, e.g., “triple” and
> “node” and “literal”)
>
> * the domain level (the things being described by the graph, e.g.,
> “resources”, “properties”, “classes”, “literal values”)
>
> Adding a fourth level with new terminology to this picture doesn't
> help anyone, and only has the effect of guaranteeing that the
> terminology that will be used around JSON-LD will forever be a
> confused mess.
>
> The argument that has been brought forward for inventing a new data
> model is: “The existing data model is too complicated and most
> programmers wouldn't understand it.” I'm not convinced. The JSON-LD
> data model isn't significantly simpler than the RDF data model. The
> JSON-LD data model is also less precise (e.g., handling of unlabelled
> subjects, objects and properties; cardinalities of property-object
> pairs; what exactly is internationalized text; what's the identity
> function for subjects and objects; can non-IRI objects be subjects
> too; ...). And it has a proper WTF moment when it distinguishes
> subjects and objects only to explain that objects can be subjects
> too. The whole affair doesn't seem any simpler than the existing RDF
> data model to me.
>
> Of course JSON-LD, being a JSON syntax, needs to use vanilla JSON
> terminology such as “array”, “object”, “name-value pair”. IMHO there
> are three options for the additional terminology that JSON-LD needs
> to introduce:
>
> 1. explain JSON-LD as essentially an extension/modification of the
> JSON data model (which consists of objects and arrays and values)
 > 2. explain JSON-LD in terms of the RDF data model (predicates, nodes,
> IRIs, literals)
 > 3. explain JSON-LD in terms of the statements that a
> JSON-LD document makes about the domain of discourse, using the
> terminology used in RDF (resources/entities, relationships, values,
> properties, classes)
>
> Of those, the first choice seems best to me because it's easiest to
> motivate for non-SemWeb people. “JSON-LD provides a bunch of
> conventions for making the JSON model richer and more webby.” The
> current choice, explaining JSON-LD in terms of a new from-scratch
> data model, is the worst possible choice.
>

Received on Monday, 27 August 2012 10:43:26 UTC