RDF: Ready for Prime Time?

Hi,

  Since Mozilla XUL uses RDF (Resource Description
Framework) quite heavily allow me to post pointers to
Shelley Powers' latest writings about RDF. 
       
  To promote her new O'Reilly book titled "Practical
RDF" Shelley has written a story titled "RDF: Ready
for Prime Time" for xml.com that takes the critics
head-on and then dives into RDF APIs, RDF
vocabularies, RDF/XML tools and utilities and much
more.
         
  If I may quote from the opening scene:

  Marc Canter (a Macromedia founder): 

  I've been spending more and more time trying to grok
the RDF folks. I have to say I like what I see and
hear, but what I don't see are many apps and services
actually up and running and working.
    ...
  We have a saying over here: "put up or shut up." I'm
still looking for two different RDF apps or services
to work together in some meaningful way. Then bring on
the books.

  Shelley:

  Considering that I'm "bringing on a book" on RDF
this month, I thought it appropriate to answer Marc's
plea for meaningful, working examples of RDF apps and
services, especially those that work with other
RDF-based services. 

  Tim Bray (a XML founding father):

  Speaking only for myself, I have never actually
managed to write down a chunk of RDF/XML correctly,
even when I had the triples laid out quite clearly in
my head. Furthermore, once again speaking for myself,
I find most existing RDF/XML entirely unreadable. And
I think I understand the theory reasonably well.

  Shelley:
    
  I've found that the more a person works with markup
such as XML, the more they dislike RDF/XML. I've also
found that no matter the alternative proposed, someone
else will dislike it just as much, which makes RDF/XML
a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't"
proposition.

  Ultimately, if RDF is ready for prime time, then so
is RDF/XML. Regardless of our views of it, it's
official, it's real, and it's here now. So on to the
RDF applications, starting with the basics: the APIs. 
  

    Full story @
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/07/30/practicalRDF.html
or
http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/2003/07/30/practicalRDF.html 
      

    Now on to Shelley's example-packed 300+ page RDF
thriller titled "Practical RDF" published last month,
that is, in July.

    Let me drop the "offical" blurb from O'Reilly site
for a starter:

    The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a
structure for describing and interchanging metadata on
the Web. Practical RDF explains RDF from the ground
up, providing real-world examples and descriptions of
how the technology is being used in applications like
Mozilla, FOAF, and Chandler, as well as infrastructure
you can use to build your own applications. This book
cuts to the heart of the W3C's often obscure
specifications, giving you tools to apply RDF
successfully in your own projects.

    At O'Reilly's site you can also sample Chapter 8
titled "Jena: RDF in Java" for free or browse the
book's table of contents or index.
   
  Full story @ http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pracrdf 
  

  - Gerald


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