• To: "'Mike Champion'" <mc@x...>,<xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: RE: RE: XML/RDF
• From: "Michael Kay" <michael.h.kay@n...>
• Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 10:07:37 -0000
• Importance: Normal
• In-reply-to: <07XTJFEOIYYUZXSFEPLE95Y21CJI.3dc6e1be@MChamp>
• Reply-to: <michael.h.kay@n...>

> >RDF and its triples is really lightweight when you have the 
> right tools 
> >to manipulate them. I like to think of them as a RDBMS whith 
> a variable
> >geometry: each "row" (ie each subject) can have a variable number of 
> >columns (properties). It's like a RDBMS which you could 
> populate before 
> >having writen any schema, that's really very flexible and 
> it's just a 
> >matter of using the right tool. When I use such a tool, I have a 
> >feeling of RDBMS without its straitjacket :-) ...
> 
> That's a very nice metaphor!  Not wanting to steal your trade 
> secrets, :-) but what are examples of "the right tool" here?

It also highlights the thing I haven't understood about RDF: in what way
is it supposed to be different from the "binary relational" data models
that have been lying around largely unimplemented for 30 years, except
for academic prototypes and a few interesting niche applications in
areas such as criminology?

Michael Kay

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