Re: Is N-Triples Normative? [Was: Re: model theory (W3C publication stuff)]

>On Thu, Aug 30, 2001 at 07:59:21AM -0400, Art Barstow wrote:
> >  ACTION 2001-08-17#8 Art Barstow Write strawman WD on test cases (
> > including n-triples).
> >
> > implies the N-Triples doc will be placed in the Test Case WD
> > (this has not been done yet):
> >
> >  [2] http://www.w3.org/2001/08/rdf-test/
>
>FYI - [2] now contains N-Triples:
>
>  http://www.w3.org/2001/08/rdf-test/#ntriples

Great, but

1.  PLEASE let us not call anonnodes 'namedNode'. The whole point of 
the damn things is that they are nodes that do NOT have a name. This 
is like calling bald people 'hairy'.

2.  On a related point, I am still slightly vague about whether the 
use of '_:foo' in N-Triples is supposed to indicate that the 
corresponding *node* in the RDF graph  is labelled with 'foo' (or 
with '_:foo') or is genuinely anonymous, ie unlabelled (in which case 
the '_:foo' in N-triples is merely to indicate which node is being 
referred to here, rather than re-using the label of the node 
itself.). In the latest version of the model theory I have assumed 
the latter, but it would be nice if this were spelled out somewhere.

3. The document says (section 3.1) :

An N-Triples document is a sequence of US-ASCII characters and is 
defined by the ntripleDoc grammar term
below. Parsing it results in a sequence of RDF statements formed from 
the subject, predicate and object
terms.

What exactly is an 'RDF statement'? (I know what a piece of an RDF 
graph is, and I know what a statement in an RDF serialization is, but 
neither of those seem to be what is meant here.) And why a *sequence* 
? Wouldn't it be better to say that each ntripleDoc describes an RDF 
graph?

4. I find the example in 3.3 puzzling, for several reasons.

a. Why is this a 'file' rather than an ntriplesDoc?
b. Why does it represent a piece of RDF/XML rather than an RDF graph?
c. Which part of the N-Triples parser was smart enough to insert 
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
rather than just writing out the three long URIs in the Ntriples lines?
d. Isn't the parser supposed to produce a sequence, in any case (cf 
earlier quote) ?

Pat

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Received on Thursday, 30 August 2001 18:24:52 UTC