One Page Intro To RDF

For those familiar with UML, the RDF data model can be described as follows:

RDF data consists of a set of (subject, predicate, object) triples called statements. There are two kinds of statements: those whose object is literal value (e.g. $2.75):

KeyLimePie, price, $2.75

and those whose object is a Resource (e.g. KeyLimePie):

PaulTrevithick, favoritePie, KeyLimePie

Resources are URI references. Subjects are Resources. Predicates are a special kind of Resource called a Property.

Literals are text strings with optional language identifiers and optional datatype identifiers. A literal with a datatype specifier is called a typed literal. Typed literals (especially when used with OWL) use most (though not quite all) of the XMLSchema types. Examples of typed literals are: "xsd:integer^^6" and "xsd:time^^06:00:00".

Last Modified 4/29/06 1:01 PM