You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
1970 lines
76 KiB
1970 lines
76 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|
|
|
<html lang="en" xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
<head>
|
|
|
|
<title>Resource Description Framework (RDF): Concepts and Abstract Syntax</title>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
|
|
"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
|
|
<meta name="rcsid" content=
|
|
"$Id: Overview.html,v 1.9 2004/02/10 15:29:28 sandro Exp $" />
|
|
<style type="text/css">
|
|
/*<![CDATA[*/
|
|
|
|
.figure {
|
|
font-weight: bold;
|
|
text-align: center; }
|
|
.added {
|
|
BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: green; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
|
|
}
|
|
.removed {
|
|
BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: red; TEXT-DECORATION: line-through
|
|
}
|
|
DIV.block {
|
|
MARGIN-LEFT: 2em
|
|
}
|
|
.note {
|
|
MARGIN-LEFT: 2em
|
|
}
|
|
A.termref:visited {
|
|
COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: sans-serif; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none
|
|
}
|
|
A.termref:link {
|
|
COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: sans-serif; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none
|
|
}
|
|
.figure {
|
|
FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-ALIGN: center
|
|
}
|
|
.todo { color: red; font-style: italic }
|
|
.code { font-family: monospace, Courier, "Courier New" }
|
|
.xeditors { color: purple; font-style: italic }
|
|
.expression { font-style: italic; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular }
|
|
dfn { color: navy; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold }
|
|
cite { color: navy }
|
|
/*]]>*/
|
|
</style>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/StyleSheets/TR/W3C-REC" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div class="head">
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/"><img height="48" width="72" alt=
|
|
"W3C" src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/w3c_home" /></a>
|
|
|
|
<h1 id="title">Resource Description Framework (RDF):<br />
|
|
Concepts and Abstract Syntax</h1>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="doctype">W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt>This version:</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-concepts-20040210/">
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-concepts-20040210/</a></dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>Latest version:</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-concepts/">http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-concepts/</a></dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>Previous version:</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-rdf-concepts-20031215/">http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-rdf-concepts-20031215/</a></dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>Editors:</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href="http://www.ninebynine.org/">Graham Klyne</a> (Nine
|
|
by Nine), <<a href=
|
|
"mailto:GK@NineByNine.org">gk@ninebynine.org</a>></dd>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href="http://www-uk.hpl.hp.com/people/jjc/">Jeremy J.
|
|
Carroll</a> (Hewlett Packard Labs), <<a href=
|
|
"mailto:jjc@hpl.hp.com">jjc@hpl.hp.com</a>></dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>Series editor:</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href="http://www-uk.hpl.hp.com/people/bwm/">Brian
|
|
McBride</a> (Hewlett Packard Labs) <<a href=
|
|
"mailto:bwm@hplb.hpl.hp.com">bwm@hplb.hpl.hp.com</a>></dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Please refer to the <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/errata#rdf-concepts"><strong>errata</strong></a>
|
|
for this document, which may include some normative corrections.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>See also <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/translation/rdf-concepts">translations</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="copyright"><a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright"> Copyright</a> © 2004 <a href="http://www.w3.org/"><acronym title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</acronym></a><sup>®</sup> (<a href="http://www.csail.mit.edu/"><acronym title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</acronym></a>, <a href="http://www.ercim.org/"><acronym title="European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics">ERCIM</acronym></a>, <a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio</a>), All Rights Reserved. W3C <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>, <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a>, <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">document use</a> and <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-software">software licensing</a> rules apply.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr title="Separator for header" />
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<h2 class="nonum"><a id="abstract" name=
|
|
"abstract">Abstract</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a framework for
|
|
representing information in the Web.</p>
|
|
<p>RDF Concepts and Abstract Syntax defines an abstract syntax
|
|
on which RDF is based, and which serves to link its concrete
|
|
syntax to its formal semantics. It also includes discussion of
|
|
design goals, key concepts, datatyping, character normalization
|
|
and handling of URI references.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="status">
|
|
|
|
<h2 class="nonum">
|
|
<a id="status" name="status">Status of this Document</a>
|
|
</h2>
|
|
<!-- Start Status-Of-This-Document Text -->
|
|
|
|
<p>This document has been reviewed by W3C Members and other interested
|
|
parties, and it has been endorsed by the Director as a <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/2003/06/Process-20030618/tr.html#RecsW3C">W3C
|
|
Recommendation</a>. W3C's role in making the Recommendation is to
|
|
draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread
|
|
deployment. This enhances the functionality and interoperability of
|
|
the Web.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This is one document in a <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-concepts-20040210/#section-Introduction">set
|
|
of six</a> (<a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-primer-20040210/">Primer</a>,
|
|
<a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-concepts-20040210/">Concepts</a>,
|
|
<a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-syntax-grammar-20040210/">Syntax</a>,
|
|
<a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-mt-20040210/">Semantics</a>,
|
|
<a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-schema-20040210/">Vocabulary</a>,
|
|
and <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-testcases-20040210/">Test
|
|
Cases</a>) intended to jointly replace the original Resource
|
|
Description Framework specifications, <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-rdf-syntax-19990222/">RDF Model and Syntax (1999
|
|
Recommendation)</a> and <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/CR-rdf-schema-20000327/">RDF Schema
|
|
(2000 Candidate Recommendation)</a>. It has been developed by the <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/">RDF Core Working Group</a>
|
|
as part of the <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/">W3C Semantic Web
|
|
Activity</a> (<a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Activity">Activity
|
|
Statement</a>, <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/2002/11/swv2/charters/RDFCoreWGCharter">Group
|
|
Charter</a>) for publication on 10 February 2004.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Changes to this document since the <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-rdf-concepts-20031215/"
|
|
shape="rect">Proposed Recommendation Working Draft</a> are detailed in
|
|
the <a href="#changes" shape="rect">change log</a>. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p> The public is invited to send comments to <a
|
|
href="mailto:www-rdf-comments@w3.org">www-rdf-comments@w3.org</a> (<a
|
|
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/">archive</a>)
|
|
and to participate in general discussion of related technology on <a
|
|
href="mailto:www-rdf-interest@w3.org"
|
|
shape="rect">www-rdf-interest@w3.org</a> (<a
|
|
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/"
|
|
shape="rect">archive</a>). </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A list of <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/impls">
|
|
implementations</a> is available.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The W3C maintains a list of <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/ipr-statements"
|
|
rel="disclosure">any patent disclosures related to this work</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><em>This section describes the status of this document at the time of its
|
|
publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C
|
|
publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in
|
|
the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/">W3C technical reports index</a> at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/.</em></p>
|
|
|
|
<!-- End Status-Of-This-Document Text -->
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="toc">
|
|
<h2 class="nonum"><a id="contents" name="contents">Table of
|
|
Contents</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Introduction"><strong>1.
|
|
Introduction</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-Structure">1.1
|
|
Structure of this Document</a></li>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Overview"><strong>2. Motivations and Goals</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-motivation">2.1
|
|
Motivation</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-design-goals">2.2 Design Goals</a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-simple-data-model">2.2.1 A
|
|
Simple Data Model</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-formal-semantics">2.2.2 Formal
|
|
Semantics and Inference</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-extensible-vocab">2.2.3
|
|
Extensible URI-based Vocabulary</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-xml-serialization">2.2.4
|
|
XML-based Syntax</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-use-xsd">2.2.5 Use
|
|
XML Schema Datatypes</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-anyone">2.2.6 Anyone
|
|
Can Make Statments About Any Resource</a></li>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Concepts"><strong>3. RDF Concepts</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-data-model">3.1 Graph
|
|
Data Model</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-URI-Vocabulary">3.2 URI-based Vocabulary
|
|
and Node Identification</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-Datatypes-intro">3.3
|
|
Datatypes</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-Literals">3.4
|
|
Literals</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-SimpleFacts">3.5 RDF Expression of Simple
|
|
Facts</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-Entailment">3.6
|
|
Entailment</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-URIspaces"><strong>4. RDF
|
|
Vocabulary URI and Namespace (Normative)</strong></a></li>
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Datatypes"><strong>5. Datatypes (Normative)</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-XMLLiteral">5.1
|
|
XML Content within an RDF Graph</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Graph-syntax"><strong>6. Abstract
|
|
Syntax (Normative)</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-triples">6.1 RDF
|
|
Triples</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-rdf-graph">6.2 RDF
|
|
Graph</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-graph-equality">6.3 Graph
|
|
Equivalence</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-Graph-URIref">6.4 RDF
|
|
URI References</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Graph-Literal">6.5 RDF Literals</a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-Literal-Equality">6.5.1 Literal
|
|
Equality</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-Literal-Value">6.5.2 The Value Corresponding
|
|
to a Typed Literal</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href="#section-blank-nodes">6.6 Blank Nodes</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-fragID"><strong>7. Fragment Identifiers
|
|
</strong></a>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-Acknowledgments"><strong>8.
|
|
Acknowledgments</strong></a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-References"><strong>9.
|
|
References</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
<ul class="toc">
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-Normative-References">9.1 Normative
|
|
References</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline"><a href=
|
|
"#section-Informative-References">9.2 Informational
|
|
References</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li class="tocline">
|
|
<a href="#section-Revisions"><strong>A: Revisions Since Last Call Working Draft of 10 October 2003</strong></a>
|
|
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<h2><a id="section-Introduction" name="section-Introduction">1.
|
|
Introduction</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a framework for
|
|
representing information in the Web.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This document defines an abstract syntax on which RDF is based,
|
|
and which serves to link its concrete syntax to its formal
|
|
semantics.
|
|
This abstract syntax is quite distinct from XML's tree-based infoset [<a
|
|
href="#ref-xml-infoset">XML-INFOSET</a>]. It also includes discussion of design goals,
|
|
key concepts, datatyping, character normalization
|
|
and handling of URI references.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Normative documentation of RDF falls into the following
|
|
areas:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>XML serialization syntax [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-syntax">RDF-SYNTAX</a>],</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>formal semantics [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>], and</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>this document, (sections 4, 5 and 6).</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Within this document, normative sections are explicitly labelled as such.
|
|
Explicit notes are informative.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The framework is designed so that vocabularies can be layered.
|
|
The RDF and RDF vocabulary definition (RDF schema)
|
|
languages
|
|
[<a href="#ref-rdf-vocabulary">RDF-VOCABULARY</a>] are the first
|
|
such vocabularies.
|
|
|
|
Others (cf. OWL [<a href="#ref-owl">OWL</a>] and
|
|
the applications mentioned in the primer
|
|
[<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-primer">RDF-PRIMER</a>]) are in development.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-Structure" name="section-Structure">1.1
|
|
Structure of this Document</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>In <a href="#section-Overview">section 2</a>,
|
|
the background rationale and design goals
|
|
are introduced.
|
|
Key concepts follow in <a href="#section-Concepts">section 3</a>.
|
|
<a href="#section-URIspaces">Section 4</a> discusses URI references
|
|
reserved for use by RDF.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="#section-Datatypes">Section 5</a> discusses datatypes.
|
|
XML content of
|
|
literals is described in <a href="#section-XMLLiteral">section
|
|
5.1</a>, and the abstract syntax is defined in <a href=
|
|
"#section-Graph-syntax">section 6</a> of this document.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="#section-fragID">Section 7</a> discusses the role of fragment
|
|
identifiers in URI references used with RDF.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a id="section-Overview" name="section-Overview">2. Motivations and Goals</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF has an abstract syntax that reflects a simple graph-based
|
|
data model, and formal semantics with a rigorously defined notion
|
|
of entailment providing a basis for well founded deductions in RDF
|
|
data.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-motivation" name="section-motivation">2.1 Motivation</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The development of RDF has been motivated by the following uses,
|
|
among others:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Web metadata: providing information about Web resources and
|
|
the systems that use them (e.g. content rating, capability
|
|
descriptions, privacy preferences, etc.)</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Applications that require open rather than constrained
|
|
information models (e.g. scheduling activities, describing
|
|
organizational processes, annotation of Web resources, etc.)</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>To do for machine processable information (application data)
|
|
what the World Wide Web has done for hypertext: to allow data to
|
|
be processed outside the particular environment in which it was
|
|
created, in a fashion that can work at Internet scale.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Interworking among applications: combining data from several
|
|
applications to arrive at new information.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Automated processing of Web information by software agents:
|
|
the Web is moving from having just human-readable information to
|
|
being a world-wide network of cooperating processes. RDF provides
|
|
a world-wide lingua franca for these processes.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF is designed to represent information in a minimally
|
|
constraining, flexible way. It can be used in isolated
|
|
applications, where individually designed formats
|
|
might be more direct and easily understood, but RDF's generality offers greater value from
|
|
sharing. The value of information thus increases as it becomes
|
|
accessible to more applications across the entire Internet.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-design-goals" name="section-design-goals">2.2 Design Goals</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The design of RDF is intended to meet the following goals:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>having a simple data model</li>
|
|
<li>having formal semantics and provable inference</li>
|
|
<li>using an extensible URI-based vocabulary</li>
|
|
<li>using an XML-based syntax</li>
|
|
<li>supporting use of XML schema datatypes</li>
|
|
<li>allowing anyone to make statements about any
|
|
resource</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-simple-data-model" name="section-simple-data-model">2.2.1 A Simple Data
|
|
Model</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF has a simple data model that is easy for applications to
|
|
process and manipulate. The data model is independent of any
|
|
specific serialization syntax.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> the term "model" used here in "data model" has a
|
|
completely different sense to its use in the term "model theory".
|
|
See [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>]
|
|
for more information about "model
|
|
theory" as used in the literature of mathematics and logic.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-formal-semantics" name="section-formal-semantics">2.2.2 Formal Semantics
|
|
and Inference</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF has a formal semantics which provides a dependable basis for
|
|
reasoning about the meaning of an RDF expression. In particular, it
|
|
supports rigorously defined notions of entailment which provide a
|
|
basis for defining reliable rules of inference in RDF data.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-extensible-vocab" name="section-extensible-vocab">2.2.3 Extensible
|
|
URI-based Vocabulary</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The vocabulary is fully extensible, being based on URIs with
|
|
optional fragment identifiers (<cite>URI references</cite>, or
|
|
<cite>URIrefs</cite>). URI references are used for naming all kinds
|
|
of things in RDF.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The other kind of value that appears in RDF data is a
|
|
literal.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-xml-serialization" name="section-xml-serialization">2.2.4 XML-based
|
|
Syntax</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF has a recommended XML serialization form [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-syntax">RDF-SYNTAX</a>], which can be used to encode the
|
|
data model for exchange of information among applications.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-use-xsd" name="section-use-xsd">2.2.5 Use XML Schema
|
|
Datatypes</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF can use values represented according to XML schema datatypes
|
|
[<a href="#ref-xml-schema2">XML-SCHEMA2</a>], thus assisting the
|
|
exchange of information between RDF and other XML applications.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-anyone" name="section-anyone">2.2.6 Anyone Can Make
|
|
Statements About Any Resource</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>To facilitate operation at Internet scale, RDF is an
|
|
open-world framework that allows anyone to make statements
|
|
about any resource.</p>
|
|
<p>In general, it is not assumed that complete information
|
|
about any resource is available. RDF does not prevent anyone
|
|
from making assertions that are nonsensical or inconsistent
|
|
with other statements, or the world as people see it. Designers
|
|
of applications that use RDF should be aware of this and may
|
|
design their applications to tolerate incomplete or
|
|
inconsistent sources of information.</p>
|
|
|
|
<!-- here -->
|
|
<h2><a id="section-Concepts" name="section-Concepts">3. RDF
|
|
Concepts</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF uses the following key concepts:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Graph data model</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>URI-based vocabulary</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Datatypes</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Literals</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>XML serialization syntax</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Expression of simple facts</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Entailment</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-data-model" name="section-data-model">3.1 Graph Data
|
|
Model</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The underlying structure of any expression in RDF is a
|
|
collection of triples, each consisting of a subject, a
|
|
predicate and an object. A set of such triples is called an RDF
|
|
graph (defined more formally in
|
|
<a href="#section-Graph-syntax">section 6</a>). This can be
|
|
illustrated by a node and directed-arc diagram, in which each
|
|
triple is represented as a node-arc-node link (hence the term
|
|
"graph").</p>
|
|
<div class="block">
|
|
<p><img src="Graph-ex.gif"
|
|
alt="image of the RDF triple comprising (subject, predicate, object)"
|
|
height="72" width="361" /></p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Each triple represents a statement of a relationship between
|
|
the things denoted by the nodes that it links. Each triple has
|
|
three parts:</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>a <a href="#dfn-subject">subject</a>,</li>
|
|
<li>an <a href="#dfn-object">object</a>, and</li>
|
|
<li>a <a href="#dfn-predicate">predicate</a> (also called a
|
|
<a href="#dfn-property">property</a>) that denotes a
|
|
relationship.</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>The direction of the arc is significant: it always points
|
|
toward the object.</p>
|
|
<p>The <a href="#section-Graph-Node">nodes</a> of an RDF graph
|
|
are its subjects and objects.</p>
|
|
<p>The assertion of an RDF triple says that some relationship,
|
|
indicated by the predicate, holds between the things denoted by
|
|
subject and object of the triple. The assertion of an RDF graph
|
|
amounts to asserting all the triples in it, so the meaning of
|
|
an RDF graph is the conjunction (logical AND) of the statements
|
|
corresponding to all the triples it contains. A formal account
|
|
of the meaning of RDF graphs is given in [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>].</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-URI-Vocabulary" name=
|
|
"section-URI-Vocabulary">3.2 URI-based Vocabulary and Node
|
|
Identification</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>A node may be a URI with optional fragment identifier (<a
|
|
href="#dfn-URI-reference">URI reference</a>, or <dfn><a
|
|
id="dfn-URIref" name="dfn-URIref">URIref</a></dfn>), a literal,
|
|
or blank (having no separate form of identification).
|
|
Properties are <cite>URI references</cite>. (See [<a
|
|
href="#ref-uris">URI</a>], section 4, for a description of URI
|
|
reference forms, noting that relative URIs are not used in an
|
|
RDF graph. See also <a href="#section-Graph-URIref">section
|
|
6.4</a>.)</p>
|
|
<p>A URI reference or literal used as a node identifies what
|
|
that node represents. A URI reference used as a predicate
|
|
identifies a relationship between the things represented by the nodes it connects. A
|
|
predicate URI reference may also be a node in the graph.</p>
|
|
<p>A <a href="#dfn-blank-node">blank node</a> is a node that is
|
|
not a URI reference or a literal. In the RDF abstract syntax, a
|
|
blank node is just a unique node that can be used in one or
|
|
more RDF statements, but has no intrinsic name.</p>
|
|
<p>A convention used by some linear representations of an RDF
|
|
graph to allow several statements to reference the same
|
|
unidentified resource is to use a <dfn><a
|
|
id="dfn-blank-node-id" name="dfn-blank-node-id">blank node
|
|
identifier</a></dfn>, which is a local identifier that can be
|
|
distinguished from all URIs and literals. When graphs are
|
|
merged, their blank nodes must be kept distinct if meaning is
|
|
to be preserved; this may call for re-allocation of blank node
|
|
identifiers. Note that such blank node identifiers are not part
|
|
of the RDF abstract syntax, and the representation of triples
|
|
containing blank nodes is entirely dependent on the particular
|
|
concrete syntax used.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="section-Datatypes-intro" id="section-Datatypes-intro">3.3
|
|
Datatypes</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Datatypes are used by RDF in the representation of values such
|
|
as integers, floating point numbers and dates.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
A datatype consists of a lexical space, a value space and a lexical-to-value
|
|
mapping, see <a href="#section-Datatypes">section 5</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>For example, the lexical-to-value mapping for the XML Schema datatype
|
|
<var>xsd:boolean</var>, where each member of the value space
|
|
(represented here as 'T' and 'F') has two lexical representations,
|
|
is as follows:</p>
|
|
|
|
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" summary=
|
|
"A table detailing the xsd:boolean datatype.">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th align="left">Value Space</th>
|
|
|
|
<td>{T, F}</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th align="left">Lexical Space</th>
|
|
|
|
<td>{"0", "1", "true", "false"}</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th align="left">Lexical-to-Value Mapping</th>
|
|
|
|
<td>{<"true", T>, <"1", T>, <"0", F>,
|
|
<"false", F>}</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF predefines just one datatype <a href=
|
|
"#dfn-rdf-XMLLiteral" class="code">rdf:XMLLiteral</a>, used for
|
|
embedding XML in RDF (see <a href="#section-XMLLiteral">section
|
|
5.1</a>).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There is no built-in concept of numbers or dates or other common
|
|
values. Rather, RDF defers to datatypes that are defined
|
|
separately, and identified with URI references.
|
|
The predefined XML Schema
|
|
datatypes [<a href="#ref-xml-schema2">XML-SCHEMA2</a>] are expected
|
|
to be widely used for this purpose.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF provides no mechanism for defining new datatypes. XML Schema
|
|
Datatypes [<a href="#ref-xml-schema2">XML-SCHEMA2</a>] provides an
|
|
extensibility framework suitable for defining new datatypes for use
|
|
in RDF.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="section-Literals" id="section-Literals">3.4
|
|
Literals</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Literals are used to identify values such as numbers and dates
|
|
by means of a lexical representation. Anything represented by a
|
|
literal could also be represented by a URI, but it is often more
|
|
convenient or intuitive to use literals.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A literal may be the object of an RDF statement, but not the
|
|
subject or the predicate.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Literals may be <cite>plain</cite> or <cite>typed</cite> :</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>A <a href="#dfn-plain-literal" >plain literal</a> is a string combined
|
|
with an optional language tag. This may be used for
|
|
plain text in a natural language. As recommended in the RDF
|
|
formal semantics [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>], these plain literals are
|
|
self-denoting.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<li>A <a href="#dfn-typed-literal" >typed literal</a> is a string combined with a
|
|
datatype URI. It denotes the
|
|
member of the identified datatype's value space obtained by
|
|
applying the lexical-to-value mapping to the literal string.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Continuing the example from <a href="#section-Datatypes-intro">section
|
|
3.3</a>, the typed literals that can be defined using the XML
|
|
Schema datatype <var>xsd:boolean</var> are:</p>
|
|
|
|
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" summary=
|
|
"This table lists the literals of type xsd:boolean.">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th>Typed Literal</th>
|
|
|
|
<th>Lexical-to-Value Mapping</th>
|
|
|
|
<th>Value</th>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="center"><xsd:boolean, "true"></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center"><"true", T></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center">T</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="center"><xsd:boolean, "1"></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center"><"1", T></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center">T</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="center"><xsd:boolean, "false"></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center"><"false", F></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center">F</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="center"><xsd:boolean, "0"></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center"><"0", F></td>
|
|
|
|
<td align="center">F</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
<p>For text that may contain
|
|
markup, use typed literals
|
|
with type <a href="#section-XMLLiteral">rdf:XMLLiteral</a>.
|
|
If language annotation is required,
|
|
it must be explicitly included as markup, usually by means of an
|
|
<code>xml:lang</code> attribute.
|
|
<a href="#ref-xhtml">[XHTML]</a> may be included within RDF
|
|
in this way. Sometimes, in this latter case,
|
|
an additional <code>span</code> or <code>div</code>
|
|
element is needed to carry an
|
|
<code>xml:lang</code> or <code>lang</code> attribute.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The string in both plain and typed literals is recommended to
|
|
be in Unicode Normal Form C <a href="#ref-nfc">[NFC]</a>. This is motivated
|
|
by <a href="#ref-charmod">[CHARMOD]</a> particularly
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-charmod-20030822/#sec-Normalization">section 4
|
|
Early Uniform Normalization</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-SimpleFacts" name="section-SimpleFacts">3.5
|
|
RDF Expression of Simple Facts</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Some simple facts indicate a relationship between
|
|
two things.
|
|
Such a fact may be represented as an RDF triple in which the predicate
|
|
names the relationship, and the subject and object denote the two things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A familiar representation of such a fact might be
|
|
as a row in a table in a relational database. The table has
|
|
two columns, corresponding to the subject and the object of the
|
|
RDF triple.
|
|
The name of the table corresponds to the predicate
|
|
of the RDF triple. A further familiar representation may be as a
|
|
two place predicate
|
|
in first order logic.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Relational databases permit a table to have an arbitrary number of columns,
|
|
a row of which expresses information corresponding to a predicate in first
|
|
order logic with an arbitrary number of places. Such a row, or predicate,
|
|
has to be decomposed for representation as RDF triples. A simple form of
|
|
decomposition introduces a new blank node, corresponding to the row, and a
|
|
new triple is introduced for each cell in the row. The subject of each
|
|
triple is the new blank node, the predicate corresponds to the column name,
|
|
and object corresponds to the value in the cell. The new blank node may
|
|
also have an <span class="code">rdf:type</span> property whose value corresponds
|
|
to the table name.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>As an example, consider Figure 6 from the
|
|
[<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-primer">RDF-PRIMER</a>]:
|
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="figure">
|
|
<img src="fig6may19" alt=
|
|
"Using a Blank Node" width="100%" /><br />
|
|
RDF Primer Figure 6: Using a Blank Node
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
This information might correspond to a row in a table <span class="code">"STAFFADDRESSES"</span>,
|
|
with a primary key
|
|
<span class="code">STAFFID</span>,
|
|
and additional columns
|
|
<span class="code">STREET</span>,
|
|
<span class="code">STATE</span>,
|
|
<span class="code">CITY</span> and
|
|
<span class="code">POSTALCODE</span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Thus, a more complex fact is expressed in RDF using a
|
|
conjunction (logical-AND) of simple binary relationships. RDF does not
|
|
provide means to express negation (NOT) or disjunction (OR). </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Through its use of extensible URI-based vocabularies, RDF
|
|
provides for expression of facts about arbitrary subjects; i.e.
|
|
assertions of named properties about specific named things. A URI
|
|
can be constructed for any thing that can be named, so RDF facts
|
|
can be about any such things. <!--
|
|
And, as noted above, RDF also
|
|
provides for expression of assertions about unnamed things, which
|
|
may be fully identifiable in terms of such assertions [<a
|
|
href="#ref-tap-rbd">TAP-RBD</a>].
|
|
-->
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-Entailment" name="section-Entailment">3.6
|
|
Entailment</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The ideas on meaning and inference in RDF are underpinned by the
|
|
formal concept of <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-mt-20040210/#entail">
|
|
<cite>entailment</cite></a>, as
|
|
discussed in the RDF
|
|
semantics document [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>].
|
|
In brief, an RDF expression A is said to
|
|
<dfn>entail</dfn> another RDF expression B if every possible
|
|
arrangement of things in the world that makes A true also makes B
|
|
true. On this basis, if the truth of A is presumed or demonstrated
|
|
then the truth of B can be inferred .
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a id="section-URIspaces" name="section-URIspaces">4. RDF
|
|
Vocabulary URI and Namespace (Normative)</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
RDF uses URI references to identify resources and properties. Certain
|
|
URI references are given specific meaning by RDF. Specifically, URI
|
|
references with the following leading substring are defined by the RDF
|
|
specifications:
|
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><span
|
|
class="code">http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#</span>
|
|
(conventionally associated with namespace prefix <span
|
|
class="code">rdf:</span>)</li>
|
|
<!--
|
|
<li><span
|
|
class="code">http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#</span>
|
|
(conventionally associated with namespace prefix <span
|
|
class="code">rdfs:</span>)</li>
|
|
-->
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>Used with the RDF/XML serialization, this URI prefix
|
|
string corresponds to XML namespace names [<a
|
|
href="#ref-namespaces">XML-NS</a>] associated with the RDF
|
|
vocabulary terms.</p>
|
|
<div class="note">
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> this namespace name is the same
|
|
as that used in the earlier RDF recommendation [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-ms">RDF-MS</a>].</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Vocabulary terms in the <span class="code">rdf:</span>
|
|
namespace are listed in <a
|
|
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-syntax-grammar-20040210/#section-Namespace">
|
|
section 5.1</a> of the RDF syntax specification [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-syntax">RDF-SYNTAX</a>]. Some of these terms are
|
|
defined by the RDF specifications to denote specific concepts.
|
|
Others have syntactic purpose (e.g. rdf:ID is part of
|
|
the RDF/XML syntax).</p>
|
|
<!--
|
|
<p>Vocabulary terms defined in the <span
|
|
class="code">rdfs:</span> namespace are defined in the RDF
|
|
schema vocabulary specification [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-vocabulary">RDF-VOCABULARY</a>].</p>
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="section-Datatypes" id="section-Datatypes">5.
|
|
Datatypes (Normative)</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The datatype abstraction used in RDF is compatible with
|
|
the abstraction used in
|
|
XML Schema Part 2:
|
|
Datatypes [<a href="#ref-xml-schema2">XML-SCHEMA2</a>].</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A datatype consists of a lexical space, a value space and a lexical-to-value
|
|
mapping.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>The <dfn><a id="dfn-lexical-space"
|
|
name="dfn-lexical-space">lexical space</a></dfn> of a datatype is a set of Unicode [<a
|
|
href="#ref-unicode">UNICODE</a>] strings.</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The <dfn><a id="dfn-lexical-to-value-mapping" name=
|
|
"dfn-lexical-to-value-mapping">lexical-to-value mapping</a></dfn> of a datatype is a set of pairs whose
|
|
first element belongs to
|
|
the <dfn><a href="#dfn-lexical-space">lexical space</a></dfn> of the datatype,
|
|
and the second element belongs to the
|
|
<dfn><a id="dfn-value-space"
|
|
name="dfn-value-space">value space</a></dfn> of the datatype:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Each member of the lexical space is paired with (maps to) exactly one member
|
|
of the value space.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Each member of the value space may be paired with any number (including
|
|
zero) of members of the lexical space (lexical representations for that
|
|
value).
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A datatype is identified by one or more URI references.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
RDF may be used with any datatype definition that conforms to this
|
|
abstraction, even if not defined in terms of XML Schema.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Certain XML Schema built-in datatypes are not suitable for use
|
|
within RDF. For example, the
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/#QName">QName</a>
|
|
datatype requires a namespace declaration to be in scope during
|
|
the mapping, and is not recommended for use in RDF.
|
|
[<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>] contains
|
|
a
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-mt-20040210/#dtype_interp">more detailed discussion</a>
|
|
of specific XML Schema built-in datatypes. </p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="note">
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> When the datatype is defined using XML Schema:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
All values correspond to some lexical form, either using
|
|
the lexical-to-value mapping of the datatype or if it is a union
|
|
datatype with a lexical mapping associated with one of the member
|
|
datatypes.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
XML Schema facets remain part of the datatype and are used by the XML
|
|
Schema mechanisms that control the lexical space and the value space;
|
|
however, RDF does not define a standard mechanism to access these facets.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>In [<a href="#ref-xml-schema1">XML-SCHEMA1</a>],
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-1-20010502/#section-White-Space-Normalization-during-Validation">
|
|
white space normalization</a> occurs
|
|
during
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-1-20010502/#key-vn">validation</a>
|
|
according to the value of the
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/#rf-whiteSpace">whiteSpace
|
|
facet</a>. The lexical-to-value mapping used in RDF datatyping
|
|
occurs after this, so that the whiteSpace facet has no
|
|
effect in RDF datatyping.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-XMLLiteral" name="section-XMLLiteral">5.1 XML
|
|
Content within an RDF Graph</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF provides for XML content as a possible literal value. This
|
|
typically originates from the use of
|
|
<span class="code">rdf:parseType="Literal"</span> in the RDF/XML Syntax [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-syntax">RDF-SYNTAX</a>].</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Such content is indicated in an RDF graph using a typed literal
|
|
whose datatype is a special built-in datatype
|
|
<dfn><a id="dfn-rdf-XMLLiteral" name= "dfn-rdf-XMLLiteral" class="code">rdf:XMLLiteral</a></dfn>,
|
|
defined as follows.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><a name="XMLLiteral-uri" id="XMLLiteral-uri">A URI reference for
|
|
identifying this datatype</a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>is
|
|
<span class="code">http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#XMLLiteral</span>.</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a name="XMLLiteral-lexical-space" id="XMLLiteral-lexical-space">The lexical space</a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>is the set of all
|
|
strings:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>which are well-balanced, self-contained
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006#NT-content">
|
|
XML content</a>
|
|
[<a href="#ref-xml">XML</a>];
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>for which encoding as UTF-8
|
|
[<a href="#ref-rfc-2279">RFC 2279</a>] yields
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xml-exc-c14n-20020718/#def-exclusive-canonical-XML">
|
|
exclusive
|
|
Canonical XML </a> (with comments, with empty
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xml-exc-c14n-20020718/#def-InclusiveNamespaces-PrefixList">
|
|
InclusiveNamespaces PrefixList
|
|
</a>) <a href="#ref-xml-xc14n">[XML-XC14N]</a>;
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>for which embedding between an arbitrary XML start tag and an end tag
|
|
yields a document conforming to <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xml-names-19990114/">XML
|
|
Namespaces</a> <a href="#ref-namespaces">[XML-NS]</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a name="XMLLiteral-value-space" id="XMLLiteral-value-space">The value space</a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>is a set of entities, called XML values, which is:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>disjoint from the lexical space;</li>
|
|
<li>disjoint from the value space of any XML schema datatype
|
|
[<a href="#ref-xml-schema2">XML-SCHEMA2</a>];</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>disjoint from the set of Unicode character strings [<a
|
|
href="#ref-unicode">UNICODE</a>] strings;</li>
|
|
<li>and in 1:1 correspondence with the lexical space.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a name="XMLLiteral-mapping" id="XMLLiteral-mapping">The lexical-to-value mapping</a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
is a one-one mapping from the lexical space onto the value space,
|
|
i.e. it is both injective and surjective.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> Not all values of this datatype are compliant
|
|
with XML 1.1 [<a href="#ref-xml-1-1">XML 1.1</a>]. If compliance
|
|
with XML 1.1 is desired, then only those values that are
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/CR-xml11-20021015/#sec2.13">fully
|
|
normalized</a> according to XML 1.1 should be used.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> XML values can be thought of as the
|
|
[<a href="#ref-xml-infoset">XML-INFOSET</a>] or the
|
|
[<a href="#ref-xpath">XPATH</a>]
|
|
nodeset corresponding to the lexical form, with an appropriate equality
|
|
function.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> RDF applications may use additional equivalence relations, such as
|
|
that which relates an
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/#string"><code>xsd:string</code></a>
|
|
|
|
with an <code>rdf:XMLLiteral</code> corresponding to
|
|
a single text node of the same string.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a id="section-Graph-syntax" name="section-Graph-syntax">6.
|
|
Abstract Syntax (Normative)</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>This section defines the RDF abstract syntax. The RDF abstract
|
|
syntax is a set of triples, called the RDF graph.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This section also defines equivalence between RDF graphs. A
|
|
definition of equivalence is needed to support the RDF Test Cases [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-tests">RDF-TESTS</a>] specification.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="note">
|
|
<p><a name="implementation-note" id="implementation-note"><strong>Implementation Note:</strong></a>
|
|
This <em>abstract</em> syntax is the
|
|
syntax over which the formal semantics are defined.
|
|
Implementations are free to represent RDF graphs in
|
|
any other equivalent form. As an example:
|
|
in an RDF graph,
|
|
literals with datatype <tt>rdf:XMLLiteral</tt> can be represented
|
|
in a non-canonical
|
|
format, and canonicalization performed during the comparison between two
|
|
such literals. In this example the comparisons may be
|
|
being performed either between syntactic structures or
|
|
between their denotations in the domain of discourse.
|
|
Implementations that do not require any such comparisons can
|
|
hence be optimized.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-triples" name="section-triples">6.1 RDF
|
|
Triples</a><a id="xtocid103646" name="xtocid103646"> </a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>An <dfn><a id="dfn-rdf-triple" name="dfn-rdf-triple">RDF
|
|
triple</a></dfn> contains three components:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>the <dfn><a id="dfn-subject" name="dfn-subject">subject</a></dfn>,
|
|
which is an <a href="#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI reference</a>
|
|
or a <a href="#dfn-blank-node">blank node</a>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>the <dfn><a id="dfn-predicate" name="dfn-predicate">predicate</a></dfn>, which is an <a href=
|
|
"#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI reference</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>the <dfn><a id="dfn-object" name="dfn-object">object</a></dfn>,
|
|
which is an <a href="#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI reference</a>,
|
|
a <a href="#dfn-literal">literal</a>
|
|
or a <a href="#dfn-blank-node">blank node</a>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>An RDF triple is conventionally written in the order subject,
|
|
predicate, object.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The predicate is also known as the <dfn><a name="dfn-property"
|
|
id="dfn-property">property</a></dfn> of the triple.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-rdf-graph" name="section-rdf-graph">6.2 RDF Graph</a><a id="xtocid103647" name="xtocid103647"> </a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>An <dfn><a id="dfn-rdf-graph" name="dfn-rdf-graph">RDF
|
|
graph</a></dfn> is a set of RDF triples.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The set of <dfn><a name="dfn-node" id="dfn-node">nodes</a><a name="section-Graph-Node" id="section-Graph-Node"> </a></dfn> of an RDF graph is the set of subjects and objects of
|
|
triples in the graph.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-graph-equality" name="section-graph-equality">6.3 Graph
|
|
Equivalence</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Two RDF graphs <var>G</var> and <var>G'</var> are equivalent if there
|
|
is a bijection <var>M</var> between the sets of nodes of the two graphs,
|
|
such that:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li><var>M</var> maps blank nodes to blank nodes.</li>
|
|
<li><var>M(lit)=lit</var> for all <a href=
|
|
"#dfn-literal">RDF literals</a> <var>lit</var> which
|
|
are nodes of <var>G</var>.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><var>M(uri)=uri</var> for all <a href=
|
|
"#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI references</a> <var>uri</var>
|
|
which are nodes of <var>G</var>.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>The triple <var>( s, p, o )</var> is in <var>G</var> if and
|
|
only if the triple <var>( M(s), p, M(o) )</var> is in
|
|
<var>G'</var></li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>With this definition, <var>M</var> shows how each blank node
|
|
in <var>G</var> can be replaced with
|
|
a new blank node to give <var>G'</var>.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-Graph-URIref" name="section-Graph-URIref">6.4
|
|
RDF URI References</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>A <dfn><a id="dfn-URI-reference" name="dfn-URI-reference">URI reference</a></dfn> within an RDF graph (an RDF URI reference) is a
|
|
Unicode string [<a href="#ref-unicode">UNICODE</a>] that:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>does not contain any control characters ( #x00 - #x1F, #x7F-#x9F)
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>and
|
|
would produce a
|
|
valid URI character sequence (per RFC2396 [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-uris">URI</a>], sections 2.1)
|
|
representing an absolute URI with optional
|
|
fragment identifier
|
|
when subjected to the encoding described below.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The encoding consists of:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>encoding the Unicode string as UTF-8
|
|
[<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rfc-2279">RFC-2279</a>], giving a sequence of octet values.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
%-escaping octets that do not correspond to permitted US-ASCII characters.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The disallowed octets that must be %-escaped include all those that do not
|
|
correspond to US-ASCII characters, and the excluded characters listed in
|
|
Section 2.4 of [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-uris">URI</a>], except for the number sign (#), percent sign (%),
|
|
and the square bracket characters re-allowed in [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rfc-2732">RFC-2732</a>].
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Disallowed octets must be escaped with the URI escaping mechanism (that is, converted to %HH,
|
|
where HH is the 2-digit hexadecimal numeral corresponding to the octet value).
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Two RDF URI references are equal if and only if they compare as
|
|
equal, character by character, as Unicode strings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="note">
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> RDF URI references are compatible with the <a
|
|
href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/#anyURI"><cite>
|
|
anyURI</cite></a> datatype as defined by XML schema datatypes [<a
|
|
href="#ref-xml-schema2">XML-SCHEMA2</a>], constrained to be an
|
|
absolute rather than a relative URI reference.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> RDF URI references are compatible with <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-xml-names11-20031105/#IRIs">International Resource
|
|
Identifiers</a> as defined by [<a href="#ref-xml-names11">XML
|
|
Namespaces 1.1</a>].</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> this section anticipates an RFC on Internationalized Resource
|
|
Identifiers. Implementations may issue warnings concerning the use
|
|
of RDF URI References that do not conform with [<a href="#ref-iri">IRI draft</a>] or its
|
|
successors.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The restriction to absolute URI references is
|
|
found in this abstract syntax. When there is a well-defined base
|
|
URI, concrete syntaxes, such as RDF/XML, may permit relative URIs
|
|
as a shorthand for such absolute URI references.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Because of the risk of confusion between
|
|
RDF URI references that would
|
|
be equivalent if derefenced, the use of %-escaped characters in RDF URI
|
|
references is strongly discouraged. See also the
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues.html#URIEquivalence-15">
|
|
URI equivalence issue</a> of
|
|
the Technical Architecture Group [<a href="#ref-TAG">TAG</a>].</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-Graph-Literal" name="section-Graph-Literal">6.5
|
|
RDF Literals</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>A <dfn><a id="dfn-literal" name="dfn-literal">literal</a></dfn> in an RDF graph
|
|
contains one or two named components.</p>
|
|
<p>All literals have a <dfn><a id="dfn-lexical-form" name=
|
|
"dfn-lexical-form">lexical form</a></dfn> being a Unicode [<a
|
|
href="#ref-unicode">UNICODE</a>] string, which SHOULD be in Normal Form C [<a
|
|
href="#ref-nfc">NFC</a>].</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><dfn><a id="dfn-plain-literal" name="dfn-plain-literal">Plain literals</a></dfn> have
|
|
a <a href="#dfn-lexical-form">lexical form</a> and optionally a
|
|
<dfn><a id="dfn-language-identifier" name=
|
|
"dfn-language-identifier">language tag</a></dfn> as
|
|
defined by [<a href="#ref-rfc-3066">RFC-3066</a>], normalized to lowercase.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><dfn><a id="dfn-typed-literal" name="dfn-typed-literal">Typed literals</a></dfn> have a <a href="#dfn-lexical-form">lexical form</a> and a <dfn><a id="dfn-datatype-URI" name=
|
|
"dfn-datatype-URI">datatype URI</a></dfn> being an <a href=
|
|
"#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI reference</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="note">
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Literals in which the lexical form begins with a
|
|
composing character (as defined by [<a href=
|
|
"#ref-charmod">CHARMOD</a>]) are allowed however they may cause
|
|
interoperability problems, particularly with XML version 1.1 [<a
|
|
href="#ref-xml-1-1">XML 1.1</a>].</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> When using the language tag, care must be
|
|
taken not to confuse language with locale. The language
|
|
tag relates only to human language text. Presentational
|
|
issues should
|
|
be addressed in end-user applications.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The case normalization of
|
|
language tags is part of
|
|
the description of the abstract syntax, and consequently the abstract
|
|
behaviour of RDF applications. It does not constrain an
|
|
RDF implementation to actually normalize the case. Crucially, the result
|
|
of comparing two language tags should not be sensitive to the case of
|
|
the original input.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-Literal-Equality" name=
|
|
"section-Literal-Equality">6.5.1 Literal Equality</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>Two literals are equal if and only if all of the following
|
|
hold:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>The strings of the two lexical forms compare equal, character
|
|
by character.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Either both or neither have language tags.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>The language tags, if any, compare
|
|
equal.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Either both or neither have datatype URIs.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>The two datatype URIs, if any, compare equal, character by
|
|
character.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> RDF Literals are distinct and distinguishable
|
|
from RDF URI references; e.g. http://example.org as an RDF
|
|
Literal (untyped, without a language tag) is not equal to
|
|
http://example.org as an RDF URI reference.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a id="section-Literal-Value" name=
|
|
"section-Literal-Value">6.5.2 The Value Corresponding to a Typed
|
|
Literal</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The datatype URI refers to a <a href=
|
|
"#section-Datatypes">datatype</a>. For XML Schema <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/#built-in-datatypes">
|
|
built-in</a> datatypes, URIs such as
|
|
<span class="code">http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#int</span> are used. The URI
|
|
of the datatype <a href=
|
|
"#section-XMLLiteral" class="code">rdf:XMLLiteral</a> may be used.
|
|
There may be other, implementation dependent, mechanisms by which
|
|
URIs refer to datatypes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <em>value</em> associated with a typed literal is found by
|
|
applying the lexical-to-value mapping associated with the datatype URI to
|
|
the lexical form.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
If the lexical form is not in
|
|
the lexical space of the datatype associated with the datatype URI,
|
|
then no literal value can be associated with the typed literal.
|
|
Such a case, while in error, is not <em>syntactically</em> ill-formed.</p>
|
|
<!--
|
|
<p>A typed literal for which the datatype does not map the lexical
|
|
form to a value is not syntactically ill-formed.</p>
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong>
|
|
In application contexts, comparing the values of typed literals (see
|
|
<a href="#section-Literal-Value">
|
|
section
|
|
6.5.2</a>)
|
|
is usually more helpful than comparing their syntactic forms (see
|
|
<a href="#section-Literal-Equality">
|
|
section
|
|
6.5.1</a>).
|
|
Similarly, for comparing RDF Graphs,
|
|
semantic notions of entailment (see
|
|
[<a href=
|
|
"#ref-rdf-semantics">RDF-SEMANTICS</a>]) are usually
|
|
more helpful than syntactic equality (see
|
|
<a href="#section-graph-equality">
|
|
section
|
|
6.3</a>).</p>
|
|
<h3><a id="section-blank-nodes" name="section-blank-nodes">6.6 Blank Nodes</a></h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The <dfn><a id="dfn-blank-node" name="dfn-blank-node">blank nodes</a></dfn> in an RDF graph
|
|
are drawn from an infinite set.
|
|
This set of blank nodes, the set of all <a href="#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI references</a>
|
|
and the set of all <a href="#dfn-literal">literals</a> are pairwise disjoint.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Otherwise, this set of blank nodes is arbitrary.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>RDF makes no reference to any internal structure of blank nodes.
|
|
Given two blank nodes, it is
|
|
possible to determine whether or not they are the same.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a id="section-fragID" name="section-fragID">7. Fragment
|
|
Identifiers</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>RDF uses an <a href="#dfn-URI-reference">RDF URI
|
|
Reference</a>, which may include a fragment identifier, as a
|
|
context free identifier for a resource. RFC 2396 [<a
|
|
href="#ref-uris">URI</a>] states that the meaning of a fragment
|
|
identifier depends on the MIME content-type of a document, i.e.
|
|
is context dependent.</p>
|
|
<p>These apparently conflicting views are reconciled by
|
|
considering that a URI reference in an RDF graph is treated
|
|
with respect to the MIME type <span
|
|
class="code">application/rdf+xml</span> [<a
|
|
href="#ref-rdf-mime-type">RDF-MIME-TYPE</a>]. Given an RDF URI
|
|
reference consisting of an absolute URI and a fragment
|
|
identifier, the fragment identifer identifies the same thing
|
|
that it does in an <span
|
|
class="code">application/rdf+xml</span> representation of the
|
|
resource identified by the absolute URI component. Thus:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>we assume that the URI part (i.e. excluding fragment
|
|
identifier) identifies a resource, which is presumed to have
|
|
an RDF representation. So when <span
|
|
class="code">eg:someurl#frag</span> is used in an RDF
|
|
document, <span class="code">eg:someurl</span> is taken to
|
|
designate some RDF document (even when no such document can
|
|
be retrieved).</li>
|
|
<li><span class="code">eg:someurl#frag</span> means the thing
|
|
that is indicated, according to the rules of the <span
|
|
class="code">application/rdf+xml</span> MIME content-type as
|
|
a "fragment" or "view" of the RDF document at <span
|
|
class="code">eg:someurl</span>. If the document does not
|
|
exist, or cannot be retrieved, or is available only in
|
|
formats other than <span
|
|
class="code">application/rdf+xml</span>, then exactly what
|
|
that view may be is somewhat undetermined, but that does not
|
|
prevent use of RDF to say things about it.</li>
|
|
<li>the RDF treatment of a fragment identifier allows it to
|
|
indicate a thing that is entirely external to the document,
|
|
or even to the "shared information space" known as the Web.
|
|
That is, it can be a more general idea, like some particular
|
|
car or a mythical Unicorn.</li>
|
|
<li>in this way, an <span
|
|
class="code">application/rdf+xml</span> document acts as an
|
|
intermediary between some Web retrievable documents (itself,
|
|
at least, also any other Web retrievable URIs that it may
|
|
use, possibly including schema URIs and references to other
|
|
RDF documents), and some set of possibly abstract or non-Web
|
|
entities that the RDF may describe.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>This provides a handling of URI references and their
|
|
denotation that is consistent with the RDF model theory and
|
|
usage, and also with conventional Web behavior. Note that
|
|
nothing here requires that an RDF application be able to
|
|
retrieve any representation of resources identified by the URIs
|
|
in an RDF graph.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 class="nonum"><a id="section-Acknowledgments" name=
|
|
"section-Acknowledgments">8. Acknowledgments</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>This document contains a significant contribution from Pat
|
|
Hayes, Sergey Melnik and Patrick Stickler, under whose leadership
|
|
was developed the framework described in the RDF family of
|
|
specifications for representing datatyped values, such as integers
|
|
and dates.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The editors acknowledge valuable contributions from the
|
|
following: <!--</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>-->
|
|
<!--<li>-->Frank Manola, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Pat Hayes, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dan Brickley, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jos de Roo, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dave Beckett, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Patrick Stickler, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Peter F. Patel-Schneider, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jerome Euzenat, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Massimo Marchiori, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Tim Berners-Lee, <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dave Reynolds <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->and Dan Connolly. <!--</li>-->
|
|
<!--
|
|
<li class="todo">[[[Other contributors]]]</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
-->
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Jeremy Carroll thanks <a href="mailto:oreste@w3.org">Oreste
|
|
Signore</a>, his host at the <a href="http://www.w3c.it/">W3C
|
|
Office in Italy</a> and <a href="http://www.isti.cnr.it" lang="it"
|
|
xml:lang="it">Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione
|
|
"Alessandro Faedo"</a>, part of the <a href="http://www.cnr.it"
|
|
lang="it" xml:lang="it">Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche</a>,
|
|
where Jeremy is a visiting researcher.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This document is a product of extended deliberations by the
|
|
RDFcore Working Group, whose members have included:
|
|
|
|
<!--</p><ul>-->
|
|
<!--<li>-->Art Barstow (W3C), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dave Beckett (ILRT), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dan Brickley (ILRT), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dan Connolly (W3C), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jeremy Carroll (Hewlett Packard), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Ron Daniel (Interwoven Inc), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Bill dehOra (InterX), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jos De Roo (AGFA), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jan Grant (ILRT), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Graham Klyne (Nine by Nine), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Frank Manola (MITRE Corporation), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Brian McBride (Hewlett Packard), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Eric Miller (W3C), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Stephen Petschulat (IBM), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Patrick Stickler (Nokia), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Aaron Swartz (HWG), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Mike Dean (BBN Technologies / Verizon), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->R. V. Guha (Alpiri Inc), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Pat Hayes (IHMC), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Sergey Melnik (Stanford University) and <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Martyn Horner (Profium Ltd). <!--</li>-->
|
|
</p> <!--</ul>-->
|
|
<p>This specification also draws upon an earlier RDF Model and
|
|
Syntax document edited by Ora Lassilla and Ralph Swick, and RDF
|
|
Schema edited by Dan Brickley and R. V. Guha. RDF and RDF Schema
|
|
Working Group members who contributed to this earlier work are:
|
|
|
|
<!--</p><ul>-->
|
|
<!--<li>-->Nick Arnett (Verity), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Tim Berners-Lee (W3C), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Tim Bray (Textuality), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dan Brickley (ILRT / University of Bristol), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Walter Chang (Adobe), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Sailesh Chutani (Oracle), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Dan Connolly (W3C), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Ron Daniel (DATAFUSION), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Charles Frankston (Microsoft), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Patrick Gannon (CommerceNet), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->R. V. Guha (Epinions, previously of Netscape
|
|
Communications), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Tom Hill (Apple Computer), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Arthur van Hoff (Marimba), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Renato Iannella (DSTC), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Sandeep Jain (Oracle), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Kevin Jones, (InterMind), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Emiko Kezuka (Digital Vision Laboratories), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Joe Lapp (webMethods Inc.), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Ora Lassila (Nokia Research Center), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Andrew Layman (Microsoft), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Ralph LeVan (OCLC), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->John McCarthy (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Chris McConnell (Microsoft), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Murray Maloney (Grif), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Michael Mealling (Network Solutions), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Norbert Mikula (DataChannel), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Eric Miller (OCLC), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jim Miller (W3C, emeritus), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Frank Olken (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Jean Paoli (Microsoft), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Sri Raghavan (Digital/Compaq), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Lisa Rein (webMethods Inc.), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Paul Resnick (University of Michigan), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Bill Roberts (KnowledgeCite), <!--</li>-->
|
|
i
|
|
<!--<li>-->Tsuyoshi Sakata (Digital Vision Laboratories), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Bob Schloss (IBM), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Leon Shklar (Pencom Web Works), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->David Singer (IBM), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Wei (William) Song (SISU), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Neel Sundaresan (IBM), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Ralph Swick (W3C), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Naohiko Uramoto (IBM), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Charles Wicksteed (Reuters Ltd.), <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Misha Wolf (Reuters Ltd.) and <!--</li>-->
|
|
|
|
<!--<li>-->Lauren Wood (SoftQuad). <!--</li>-->
|
|
<!--</ul>--></p>
|
|
|
|
<h2 class="nonum"><a id="section-References" name=
|
|
"section-References">9. References</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-Normative-References" name=
|
|
"section-Normative-References"></a>9.1 Normative References</h3>
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-semantics"
|
|
name="ref-rdf-semantics"></a>[RDF-SEMANTICS]</dt>
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-mt-20040210/">RDF Semantics</a></cite>, Patrick Hayes, Editor, W3C Recommendation, 10 February 2004, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-mt-20040210/ . <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/">Latest version</a> available at http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/ .</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-syntax"
|
|
name="ref-rdf-syntax"></a>[RDF-SYNTAX]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-syntax-grammar-20040210/">RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised)</a></cite>, Dave Beckett, Editor, W3C Recommendation, 10 February 2004, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-syntax-grammar-20040210/ . <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/">Latest version</a> available at http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/ .</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-mime-type" name=
|
|
"ref-rdf-mime-type"></a>[RDF-MIME-TYPE]</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<cite><a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/">MIME Media Types</a></cite>, The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). This document is http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/ . The <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/mediatype-registration">registration for <code>application/rdf+xml</code></a> is archived at http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/mediatype-registration .
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xml" name="ref-xml"></a>[XML]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006">Extensible Markup
|
|
Language (XML) 1.0, Second Edition</a></cite>, T. Bray, J. Paoli,
|
|
C.M. Sperberg-McQueen and E. Maler, Editors. World Wide Web
|
|
Consortium. 6 October 2000. This version is
|
|
<span>http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006</span>. The
|
|
latest version of XML is available at <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml">http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml</a>.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-namespaces" name=
|
|
"ref-namespaces"></a>[XML-NS]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xml-names-19990114/">Namespaces in
|
|
XML</a></cite>, T. Bray, D. Hollander and A. Layman, Editors.
|
|
World Wide Web Consortium. 14 January 1999. This version is
|
|
<span>http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xml-names-19990114/</span>.
|
|
The <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/">latest version
|
|
of Namespaces in XML</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rfc-2279" name="ref-rfc-2279"></a>[RFC-2279]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><i><a href="http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2279.txt">RFC 2279
|
|
- UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646</a></i>, F.
|
|
Yergeau, IETF, January 1998. This document is
|
|
http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2279.txt.</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-uris" name="ref-uris"></a>[URI]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2396.txt">RFC
|
|
2396 - Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic
|
|
Syntax</a></cite>, T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding and L. Masinter,
|
|
IETF, August 1998. This document is
|
|
http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2396.txt.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rfc-2732" name="ref-rfc-2732"></a>[RFC-2732]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><i><a href="http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2732.txt">RFC 2732
|
|
- Format for Literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's</a></i>, R. Hinden,
|
|
B. Carpenter and L. Masinter, IETF, December 1999. This document
|
|
is http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2732.txt.</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-unicode" name="ref-unicode"></a>[UNICODE]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite>The Unicode Standard, Version 3</cite>, The Unicode
|
|
Consortium, Addison-Wesley, 2000. ISBN 0-201-61633-5, as updated
|
|
from time to time by the publication of new versions. (See <a
|
|
href=
|
|
"http://www.unicode.org/unicode/standard/versions/">http://www.unicode.org/unicode/standard/versions/</a>
|
|
for the latest version and additional information on versions of
|
|
the standard and of the Unicode Character Database).</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-nfc" name="ref-nfc"></a>[NFC]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><a href=
|
|
"http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/"><cite>Unicode
|
|
Normalization Forms,</cite></a> Unicode Standard Annex #15, Mark
|
|
Davis, Martin Dürst. (See <a href=
|
|
"http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/">http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/</a>
|
|
for the latest version).</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rfc-3066" name="ref-rfc-3066"></a>[RFC-3066]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><i><a href="http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc3066.txt">RFC 3066
|
|
- Tags for the Identification of Languages</a></i>, H.
|
|
Alvestrand, IETF, January 2001. This document is
|
|
http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc3066.txt.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>
|
|
<a id="ref-xml-xc14n" name="ref-xml-xc14n">[XML-XC14N]</a>
|
|
</dt>
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xml-exc-c14n-20020718/">Exclusive XML Canonicalization Version 1.0</a></cite>, J. Boyer, D.E. Eastlake 3rd, J. Reagle, Authors/Editors. W3C Recommendation. World Wide Web Consortium, 18 July 2002. This version of Exclusive XML
|
|
Canonicalization is <span>http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xml-exc-c14n-20020718/</span>.
|
|
The <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-exc-c14n/">latest version of Canonical XML</a> is at http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-exc-c14n.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xml-schema2" name=
|
|
"ref-xml-schema2"></a>[XML-SCHEMA2]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/">XML Schema
|
|
Part 2: Datatypes</a></cite>, W3C Recommendation, World Wide Web
|
|
Consortium, 2 May 2001.This version is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/">latest version</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a id="section-Informative-References" name=
|
|
"section-Informative-References"></a>9.2 Informational
|
|
References</h3>
|
|
<dl>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-tests"
|
|
name="ref-rdf-tests"></a>[RDF-TESTS]</dt>
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-testcases-20040210/">RDF Test Cases</a></cite>, Jan Grant and Dave Beckett, Editors, W3C Recommendation, 10 February 2004, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-testcases-20040210/ . <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-testcases/">Latest version</a> available at http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-testcases/ .</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-vocabulary"
|
|
name="ref-rdf-vocabulary"></a>[RDF-VOCABULARY]</dt>
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-schema-20040210/">RDF Vocabulary Description Language 1.0: RDF Schema</a></cite>, Dan Brickley and R. V. Guha, Editors, W3C Recommendation, 10 February 2004, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-schema-20040210/ . <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/">Latest version</a> available at http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/ .</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-primer" name="ref-rdf-primer">[RDF-PRIMER]</a>
|
|
</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-primer-20040210/">RDF Primer</a></cite>, Frank Manola and Eric Miller, Editors, W3C Recommendation, 10 February 2004, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-primer-20040210/ . <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/">Latest version</a> available at http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/ .</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-charmod" name="ref-charmod"></a>[CHARMOD]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-charmod-20030822/">Character Model
|
|
for the World Wide Web 1.0</a></cite>, M. Dürst, F. Yergeau,
|
|
R. Ishida, M. Wolf, T. Texin, Editors, World Wide Web
|
|
Consortium Working Draft, work in progress, 22 August 2003.
|
|
This version of the Character Model is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-charmod-20030822/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/charmod/">latest version of the Character
|
|
Model</a> is at http://www.w3.org/TR/charmod/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xml-1-1" name="ref-xml-1-1"></a>[XML-1.1]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/CR-xml11-20021015/">Extensible Markup
|
|
Language (XML) 1.1</a></cite>, John Cowan, Editor.
|
|
W3C Candidate Recommendation 15 October 2002.
|
|
This version is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/CR-xml11-20021015/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xml11/">latest version</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/xml11/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xml-schema1" name=
|
|
"ref-xml-schema1"></a>[XML-SCHEMA1]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-1-20010502/">XML Schema Part 1: Structures</a></cite>
|
|
W3C Recommendation, World Wide Web
|
|
Consortium, 2 May 2001.
|
|
This version is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-1-20010502/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/">latest version</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xml-names11" name=
|
|
"ref-xml-names11"></a>[XML-NAMESPACES-1.1]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-xml-names11-20031105/">Namespaces
|
|
in XML 1.1</a></cite>, Tim Bray, Dave Hollander, Andrew Layman,
|
|
Richard Tobin, Editors. W3C Proposed Recommendation 05 November 2003.
|
|
This version is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-xml-names11-20031105/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-names11/">latest version</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-names11/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xml-infoset" name=
|
|
"ref-xml-infoset"></a>[XML-INFOSET]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><i><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xml-infoset-20011024/">XML
|
|
Information Set</a></i>, John Cowan and Richard Tobin, W3C
|
|
Recommendation, 24 October 2001. This document is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xml-infoset-20011024/.
|
|
The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-infoset/">latest version</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-infoset/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>
|
|
<a id="ref-xpath" name="ref-xpath">[XPATH]</a>
|
|
</dt>
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xpath-19991116">XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0</a></cite>, J. Clark and S. DeRose, Editors. World Wide Web Consortium, 16 November 1999. This version of XPath is <span>http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xpath-19991116</span>. The <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath">latest version of XPath</a> is at <span>http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath</span>.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-owl" name="ref-owl"></a>[OWL]</dt>
|
|
<dd><cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-ref-20040210/">OWL Web Ontology Language Reference</a></cite>, Mike Dean and Guus Schreiber, Editors, W3C Recommendation, 10 February 2004, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-ref-20040210/ . <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/">Latest version</a> available at http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/ .</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-rdf-ms" name="ref-rdf-ms"></a>[RDF-MS]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-rdf-syntax-19990222/">Resource
|
|
Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax
|
|
Specification</a></cite>, O. Lassila and R. Swick, Editors. World
|
|
Wide Web Consortium. 22 February 1999. This version is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-rdf-syntax-19990222/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/">latest version of RDF
|
|
M&S</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/.</dd>
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-xhtml" name="ref-xhtml"></a>[XHTML]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><cite><a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xhtml1-20020801/">XHTML
|
|
1.0 The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (Second Edition)</a></cite>,
|
|
|
|
World
|
|
Wide Web Consortium. 26 January 2000, revised 1 August 2002. This version is
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xhtml1-20020801/. The <a href=
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/">latest version of XHTML 1</a> is available at
|
|
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/.</dd>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-iri" name="ref-iri"></a>[IRI draft]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><i><a href="http://www.w3.org/International/iri-edit/draft-duerst-iri-04"
|
|
>Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs)</a></i>, M. Dürst
|
|
and M. Suignard, Internet-Draft, June 2003, expires December 2003. This document
|
|
is <span>http://www.w3.org/International/iri-edit/draft-duerst-iri-04</span>.</dd>
|
|
<dt><a id="ref-TAG" name="ref-TAG"></a>[TAG]</dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd><i><a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues"
|
|
>TAG Issues List</a></i>, W3C Technical Architecture Group.
|
|
This document
|
|
is <span>http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues</span>.</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
<h1><a id="changes" name="changes"></a>
|
|
<a id="section-Revisions" name="section-Revisions">Appendix
|
|
A:</a> Revisions Since Last Call Working Draft of
|
|
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-rdf-concepts-20031010/">10 October 2003</a> </h1>
|
|
<p>
|
|
There were no substantive changes.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The following editorial changes have been made:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt>Wording of Graph Equivalence</dt>
|
|
<dd>Following a
|
|
<a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/2003OctDec/0118">suggestion</a> from
|
|
ter Horst,
|
|
the wording of
|
|
<a href="#section-graph-equality">Section 6.3</a> has been improved.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
<dt>Avoid 'globally'</dt>
|
|
<dd>In response to a
|
|
<a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/2003OctDec/0118">comment</a> from
|
|
ter Horst,
|
|
the wording of
|
|
<a href="#section-URI-Vocabulary">Section 3.2</a> has been changed,
|
|
replacing a single phrase to avoid the word 'globally',
|
|
which was undefined and unclear.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
<dt>%s in RDF URI References</dt>
|
|
<dd>
|
|
Following a
|
|
<a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/2003OctDec/0123">comment</a> from
|
|
Patel-Schneider, an additional
|
|
note has been added, concerning %-escapes in
|
|
<a href="#section-Graph-URIref">section 6.4 RDF URI References</a>.
|
|
A new informative reference to the
|
|
<a href="#ref-TAG">[TAG]</a> issue list has been added.
|
|
</dd>
|
|
<dt>References</dt>
|
|
<dd>Dated references RDF and OWL documents have been updated.</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<div class="metadata">
|
|
<p><a href="metadata.rdf"><img
|
|
src="rdf_meta.gif" alt="RDF/XML Metadata" /></a></p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|
|
|