Re: RDF vocabulary definitions

> I would like to know what is the difference between rdfs:Class and
> rdf:Description when defining a class in my own RDF vocabulary. Are the
> following two class definitions equivalent?
> 
> <rdfs:Class rdf:ID="MyClass">
> <rdfs:subClassOf
> rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class"/>
> </rdfs:Class>
> 
> <rdf:Description rdf:ID="MyClass">
> <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class"/>
> </rdf:Description>

The two definitions are not equal. The former consists of 2 triples

(MyClass, rdf:type, rdfs:Class)
(MyClass, rdfs:subClassOf, rdfs:Class)

and the latter of only 1

(MyClass, rdf:type, rdfs:Class)

BTW, The latter is probably what you want to express.

The best (formal) reference to understanding this parsing mechanism
is the typedNode production 6.13 [1] of the RDF M&S specification.

Janne

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/#grammar
-- 
Janne Saarela <janne.saarela@profium.com>
Profium, Lars Sonckin kaari 12, 02600 Espoo, Finland
Tel. +358 (0)9 855 98 000 Fax. +358 (0)9 855 98 002
Mob. +358 (0)40 508 4767  Internet: http://www.profium.com

Received on Tuesday, 19 November 2002 11:12:09 UTC