Re: semantic web tools in a shared hosting environment

Hi Matthew,

> I’m hoping that someone can provide some advice/pointers on setting- 
> up/configuring semantic web tools (e.g. RDF parsers, SPARQL  
> services, etc.) in a shared hosting environment where one does not  
> have root access, etc.  Assuming that languages such as Perl,  
> Python, and PHP are accessible (but not Java),

It might clarify your question to explicitly state "free or open- 
source tools", or "web scripting languages", if that's what you mean.  
You could install and run Java in your user account on a high port, or  
do the same with almost any commercial tool. Very few, I imagine,  
require root.

> For a small-scale application, is a true “triple store” database  
> actually necessary?  Would it be simpler (especially for learning)  
> to simply use flat files?  If so, this would potentially simplify my  
> configuration work.

If you're mostly concerned with serving RDF, you can do quite a lot by  
dumping some RDF to disk and configuring Apache correctly for content  
negotiation.

Anything beyond that, you probably want a persistent RDF store. If  
you're limited to a typical shared hosting setup, that probably means  
"some Apache-compatible language like PHP that stores its data in  
MySQL". I'm afraid I can't offer any advice in that area; others will  
doubtless mention Perl APIs, RAP, and others.

I have to say: if I were given this situation, I'd consider whether I  
would be best serving static files, or using a real RDF store. If the  
latter, I'd pay the small amount extra for a "real" host (e.g.,  
Slicehost versus DreamHost) and use one of the many excellent RDF  
systems out there. The restrictions you imagine exist might not be  
necessary.

HTH!

-R