Re: W3C acknowledges RDQL submission from HP

RDQL is a good thing.  It provides a platform for experimentation
for constructs (e.g., USING) that aren't in SQL.  I imagine that
optional clauses may also find theirway into RDQL.  However, it
appears that basic constructs like OR and NOT are missing from
the language.

Note: Adding 'NOT' is not without controversy, since the deductive
DB folks will want it to mean negation as failure, while the open world
folks will want it to mean classical negation.

In my opinion, it would be a mistake to consider
standardization of a language that leaves out some very basic
(and essential) capabilities.
Therefore, I would recommend reducing the hype a bit (the
word 'standardization') until the language begins to mature.

Cheers, Bob

At 10:45 AM 1/15/2004, Dan Brickley wrote:

>Hi all. I'm crossposting this to the general Interest Group list and
>the 'rules and query' list, www-rdf-rules. I've set reply-to: to the
>latter. See http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/
>and http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-rules/ for archives of
>both. EricP's post at
>http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-rules/2001Sep/0000.html has
>more info about origins of the www-rdf-rules list, including info on
>(un-)subscribing.
>
>Anyway, I wanted to let folks on both lists know that W3C published a
>W3C Member note on RDQL, "A Query Language for RDF" last week.
>
>The document itself is at:
>http://www.w3.org/Submission/2004/SUBM-RDQL-20040109/
>
>Info on the submission is at: http://www.w3.org/Submission/2003/06/
>
>...and our 'team comment' on the doc is at:
>http://www.w3.org/Submission/2003/06/Comment
>
>As we say in the comment, "The RDQL submission is particularly welcome
>[...] as it provides a 'strawman' target for discussion,
>testing, evaluation against use cases and consideration for possible
>standardization. [...]  Information from application developers who
>have worked with RDQL-based query engines will be of particular use in
>understanding the design tradeoffs in this area.".
>
>I know that many folks on the RDF IG lists have built or used RDF query
>systems which use either RDQL or a very similar approach (RDFdb, Squish,
>etc etc.). Discussion on the utility and limits of such languages is
>(as always) very welcome on www-rdf-rules. I'm particularly interested
>to see case studies of real world apps that have been coded against such
>an interface, and to learn more about problems (and successes!) that
>you've encountered while building such systems.
>
>Followups to mailto:www-rdf-rules@w3.org please,
>
>cheers,
>
>Dan

=====================================
Robert MacGregor
Senior Project Leader
macgregor@isi.edu
Phone: 310/448-8423, Fax:  310/822-6592
Mobile: 310/251-8488

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