Re: blank nodes question

• From: Benja Fallenstein <b.fallenstein@gmx.de>
• Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 22:18:06 +0200
• To: "Peter P. Jones" <ppj@concept67.fsnet.co.uk>
• CC: www-rdf-interest@w3.org
• Message-ID: <3F22E1FE.1000304@gmx.de>

Peter P. Jones wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> I have a question about blank nodes in RDF that's probably not as 
> naive as it sounds.
> 
> Q: Why are blank nodes necessary?

I think mostly only so that you don't have to give a URI for every node 
in an RDF/XML document, yet can have a deterministic mapping from an 
RDF/XML document to an RDF graph.

E.g., with

     <rdf:Description rdf:about="#Shoe">
         <rdfs:subClassOf>
             <owl:Restriction>
                 ...
             </owl:Restriction>
         </rdfs:subClassOf>
     </rdf:Description>

you don't need to come up (and clutter the source) with a URI for the 
owl:Restriction.

- Benja

Received on Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:19:45 UTC