Wanted: Volunteers for .NET semantic web framework project
15 views
Skip to first unread message
Andrew Matthews
Aug 1, 2008, 6:39:55 PM8/1/08
to linqtordf-discuss
LinqToRdf* is a full-featured LINQ** query provider for .NET written
in C#. It provides developers with an intuitive way to make queries on
semantic web databases. The project has been going for over a year and
it's starting to be noticed by semantic web early adopters and
semantic web product vendors***. LINQ provides a standardised query
language and a platform enabling any developer to understand systems
using semantic web technologies via LinqToRdf. It will help those who
don't have the time to ascend the semantic web learning curve to
become productive quickly.
The project's progress and momentum needs to be sustained to help it
become the standard API for semantic web development on the .NET
platform. For that reason I'm appealing for volunteers to help with
the development, testing, documentation and promotion of the project.
Please don't be concerned that all the best parts of the project are
done. Far from it! It's more like the foundations are in place, and
now the system can be used as a platform to add new features. There
are many cool things that you could take on. Here are just a few:
Reverse engineering tool
This tool will use SPARQL to interrogate a remote store to get
metadata to build an entity model.
Tutorials and Documentation
The documentation desperately needs the work of a skilled technical
writer. I've worked hard to make LinqToRdf an easy tool to work with,
but the semantic web is not a simple field. If it were, there'd be no
need for LinqToRdf after all. This task will require an understanding
of the LINQ, ASP.NET, C#, SPARQL, RDF, Turtle, and SemWeb.NET systems.
It won't be a walk in the park.
Supporting SQL Server
The SemWeb.NET API has recently added support to SQL Server, which has
not been exploited inside LinqToRdf (although it may be easy to do).
This task would also involve thinking about robust scalable
architectures for semantic web applications in the .NET space.
Porting LinqToRdf to Mono
LINQ and C# 3.0 support in Mono is now mature enough to make this a
desirable prospect. Nobody's had the courage yet to tackle it.
Clearly, this would massively extend the reach of LinqToRdf, and it
would be helped by the fact that some of the underlying components are
developed for Mono by default.
SPARQL Update (SPARUL) Support
LinqToRdf provides round-tripping only for locally stored RDF. Support
of SPARQL Update would allow data round-tripping on remote stores.
This is not a fully ratified standard, but it's only a matter of
time.
Demonstrators using large scale web endpoints
There are now quite a few large scale systems on the web with SPARQL
endpoints. It would be a good demonstration of LinqToRdf to be able to
mine them for useful data.
These are just some of the things that need to be done on the project.
I've been hoping to tackle them all for some time, but there's just
too much for one man to do alone. If you have some time free and you
want to learn more about LINQ or the Semantic Web, there is not a
better project on the web for you to join. If you're interested,
reply to this email letting me know how you could contribute, or what
you want to tackle. Alternatively join the LinqToRdf discussion group
and reply to this message there.
Thanks,
Andrew Matthews
* http://code.google.com/p/linqtordf
** http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa904594.aspx
*** http://virtuoso.openlinksw.com/Whitepapers/html/linqtordf/linqtordf1.htm
in C#. It provides developers with an intuitive way to make queries on
semantic web databases. The project has been going for over a year and
it's starting to be noticed by semantic web early adopters and
semantic web product vendors***. LINQ provides a standardised query
language and a platform enabling any developer to understand systems
using semantic web technologies via LinqToRdf. It will help those who
don't have the time to ascend the semantic web learning curve to
become productive quickly.
The project's progress and momentum needs to be sustained to help it
become the standard API for semantic web development on the .NET
platform. For that reason I'm appealing for volunteers to help with
the development, testing, documentation and promotion of the project.
Please don't be concerned that all the best parts of the project are
done. Far from it! It's more like the foundations are in place, and
now the system can be used as a platform to add new features. There
are many cool things that you could take on. Here are just a few:
Reverse engineering tool
This tool will use SPARQL to interrogate a remote store to get
metadata to build an entity model.
Tutorials and Documentation
The documentation desperately needs the work of a skilled technical
writer. I've worked hard to make LinqToRdf an easy tool to work with,
but the semantic web is not a simple field. If it were, there'd be no
need for LinqToRdf after all. This task will require an understanding
of the LINQ, ASP.NET, C#, SPARQL, RDF, Turtle, and SemWeb.NET systems.
It won't be a walk in the park.
Supporting SQL Server
The SemWeb.NET API has recently added support to SQL Server, which has
not been exploited inside LinqToRdf (although it may be easy to do).
This task would also involve thinking about robust scalable
architectures for semantic web applications in the .NET space.
Porting LinqToRdf to Mono
LINQ and C# 3.0 support in Mono is now mature enough to make this a
desirable prospect. Nobody's had the courage yet to tackle it.
Clearly, this would massively extend the reach of LinqToRdf, and it
would be helped by the fact that some of the underlying components are
developed for Mono by default.
SPARQL Update (SPARUL) Support
LinqToRdf provides round-tripping only for locally stored RDF. Support
of SPARQL Update would allow data round-tripping on remote stores.
This is not a fully ratified standard, but it's only a matter of
time.
Demonstrators using large scale web endpoints
There are now quite a few large scale systems on the web with SPARQL
endpoints. It would be a good demonstration of LinqToRdf to be able to
mine them for useful data.
These are just some of the things that need to be done on the project.
I've been hoping to tackle them all for some time, but there's just
too much for one man to do alone. If you have some time free and you
want to learn more about LINQ or the Semantic Web, there is not a
better project on the web for you to join. If you're interested,
reply to this email letting me know how you could contribute, or what
you want to tackle. Alternatively join the LinqToRdf discussion group
and reply to this message there.
Thanks,
Andrew Matthews
* http://code.google.com/p/linqtordf
** http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa904594.aspx
*** http://virtuoso.openlinksw.com/Whitepapers/html/linqtordf/linqtordf1.htm
M. David Peterson
Aug 2, 2008, 5:33:38 PM8/2/08
to linqtord...@googlegroups.com
I'm in from the Mono compatibility perspective. I'll make that happen.
What type of timeline are you looking at for full Mono compatibility?
--
/M:D
M. David Peterson
Co-Founder & Chief Architect, 3rd&Urban, LLC
Email: m.d...@3rdandUrban.com | m.d...@amp.fm
Mobile: (206) 999-0588
http://3rdandUrban.com | http://amp.fm | http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2354 | http://news.oreilly.com/m-david-peterson/
/M:D
M. David Peterson
Co-Founder & Chief Architect, 3rd&Urban, LLC
Email: m.d...@3rdandUrban.com | m.d...@amp.fm
Mobile: (206) 999-0588
http://3rdandUrban.com | http://amp.fm | http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2354 | http://news.oreilly.com/m-david-peterson/
Andrew Matthews
Aug 3, 2008, 7:55:35 PM8/3/08
to linqtord...@googlegroups.com
Hi M.David,
That's great! Timeline - whatever maximses the chance of the task reaching completion. Don't burn yourself out.
One of my objectives is to get LinqToRdf to run on Linux. If we can get that to happen, then we can list it on FreshMeat and use that as a forum for recruiting more volunteers. I guess non-standard installers (like WIX and InstallShield) are not an option if we want to be able to run LinqToRdf on Linux. I also assume that I'll need to convert to NAnt for routine builds. LinqToRdfDesigner will not be portable at all (I'd assume) unless there's some equivalent in #Develop or Eclipse?
When you're ready to start the port, we'll sit down and work out what would constitute success for this task...
Andrew Matthews
Aug 4, 2008, 11:38:43 PM8/4/08
to linqtordf-discuss
Hi M.David,
(BTW: do I call you "M.David", "M" or "David" ;)
There is now a NAnt build file for the project you can use. It assumes
NAnt 0.86 beta 1 and NAntContrib 0.85.
You should be able to experiement with that to see how Mono copes with
the code that's there.
Just get the latest from the Trunk. (http://code.google.com/p/
linqtordf/source/browse/trunk)
regards,
Andrew
On Aug 4, 9:55 am, "Andrew Matthews" <matthews.and...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> >> of the LINQ, ASP.NET <http://asp.net/>, C#, SPARQL, RDF, Turtle, and
> >> **http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa904594.aspx
> > Mobile: (2...
> >http://3rdandUrban.com<http://3rdandurban.com/> |http://amp.fm|
> >http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2354|
> >http://news.oreilly.com/m-david-peterson/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
(BTW: do I call you "M.David", "M" or "David" ;)
There is now a NAnt build file for the project you can use. It assumes
NAnt 0.86 beta 1 and NAntContrib 0.85.
You should be able to experiement with that to see how Mono copes with
the code that's there.
Just get the latest from the Trunk. (http://code.google.com/p/
linqtordf/source/browse/trunk)
regards,
Andrew
On Aug 4, 9:55 am, "Andrew Matthews" <matthews.and...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi M.David,
>
> That's great! Timeline - whatever maximses the chance of the task reaching
> completion. Don't burn yourself out.
>
> One of my objectives is to get LinqToRdf to run on Linux. If we can get that
> to happen, then we can list it on FreshMeat and use that as a forum for
> recruiting more volunteers. I guess non-standard installers (like WIX and
> InstallShield) are not an option if we want to be able to run LinqToRdf on
> Linux. I also assume that I'll need to convert to NAnt for routine
> builds. LinqToRdfDesigner will not be portable at all (I'd assume) unless
> there's some equivalent in #Develop or Eclipse?
>
> When you're ready to start the port, we'll sit down and work out what would
> constitute success for this task...
>
> Regards,
>
> Andrew Matthewshttp://aabs.wordpress.com
>
> That's great! Timeline - whatever maximses the chance of the task reaching
> completion. Don't burn yourself out.
>
> One of my objectives is to get LinqToRdf to run on Linux. If we can get that
> to happen, then we can list it on FreshMeat and use that as a forum for
> recruiting more volunteers. I guess non-standard installers (like WIX and
> InstallShield) are not an option if we want to be able to run LinqToRdf on
> Linux. I also assume that I'll need to convert to NAnt for routine
> builds. LinqToRdfDesigner will not be portable at all (I'd assume) unless
> there's some equivalent in #Develop or Eclipse?
>
> When you're ready to start the port, we'll sit down and work out what would
> constitute success for this task...
>
> Regards,
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 7:33 AM, M. David Peterson <xmlhac...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm in from the Mono compatibility perspective. I'll make that happen.
> > What type of timeline are you looking at for full Mono compatibility?
>
> > On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 4:39 PM, Andrew Matthews <matthews.and...@gmail.com
> On Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 7:33 AM, M. David Peterson <xmlhac...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm in from the Mono compatibility perspective. I'll make that happen.
> > What type of timeline are you looking at for full Mono compatibility?
>
> >> ***
> >>http://virtuoso.openlinksw.com/Whitepapers/html/linqtordf/linqtordf1.htm
>
> > --
> > /M:D
>
> > M. David Peterson
> > Co-Founder & Chief Architect, 3rd&Urban, LLC
> > Email: m.da...@3rdandUrban.com | m.da...@amp.fm
> >>http://virtuoso.openlinksw.com/Whitepapers/html/linqtordf/linqtordf1.htm
>
> > --
> > /M:D
>
> > M. David Peterson
> > Co-Founder & Chief Architect, 3rd&Urban, LLC
> > Mobile: (2...
> >http://3rdandUrban.com<http://3rdandurban.com/> |http://amp.fm|
> >http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2354|
> >http://news.oreilly.com/m-david-peterson/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages