RE: XSLT RDF Parser

> It'd be handy if you had a 'latest version' URL for the XSLT on your own
> site btw. Not least since Web-based XSLT services, like the
> _experimental_ one used by http://www.w3.org/2000/06/dc-extract/form.html
> could then invoke it and be sure to have the most recent version of your
> work. (Mobile code in action... ;-)
>

Ok, I'll do that tonight after I get home from work. I hadn't realized that
such services were available. The Net is cool.

> So... question time:
>
> Dan Connolly and yourself have both independently come up with XSLT
> parsers for RDF 1.0 Syntax. How do they compare? Are the differences (if
> any) differences of XSLT coding style or interpretation of the spec?
> 	http://www.w3.org/RDF/#parsers
> 	RDF parser in XSLT (early release) by Dan Connolly.
>

I'll take a look and see how they compare.

> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/2000May/0009.html
> 	-> http://www.w3.org/XML/2000/04rdf-parse/
> 	(uses bad URI for the experimental XSLT service; I might
> fix this later)
>
> Dan lists a bunch of bugs and limitations of his parser. I'd really like
> to see one of both of these efforts finished to completion, as part of
> our attempt to pin down the various issues/problems with the spec.
> (see
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/2000Sep/0025.html)
>

I did notice what I think is an issue and posted it to the www-rdf-comments
list last night at:

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/2000JulSep/0045.html

> In particular, Bag/Seq/Alt handling seems crucial if the XSLT parser are
> ever going to be used in anger.
>

Containers are next on my list.

> Talking of which, does anyone have a sense for how this approach
> performs? (in Java, in C, in Perl...).
>

I was actually going to implement an RDF parser in Microsoft's new language
C# (just so I could have something to learn both RDF and C# with) but I fell
in love with XSLT at work and thought I'd give that a shot first. I'm
surprised at how quickly it came together. (Is it just me or do declarative
languages rule? I'm just now starting to see the light.)

I'm not sure how feasible this would be as part of a larger application. As
a learning tool, it's great. It might also be useful as a handy tool to
quickly transform an RDF file into something more readable by us humans just
to make sure we're marking up our statements the way we think we are. I
actually think that it would have helped a lot if something like this was
included as an appendix to the M&S. Of course, XSLT wasn't around back then
but all future specs could do something like this.

> Anyhow, cool stuff!
>

Thanks,
Jason.

Received on Monday, 11 September 2000 12:59:06 UTC