Sesame (framework)
Encyclopedia
Sesame is an open-source framework for querying and analyzing RDF
data. It was created, and is still being maintained, by the Dutch
software company Aduna. It was originally developed as part of the "On-To-Knowledge", a semantic web
project that ran from 1999 to 2002. It contains a triplestore
.
Sesame supports two query languages: SeRQL and SPARQL
. Another component of Sesame is Alibaba, an API that allows for mapping Java classes onto ontologies and for generating Java source files from ontologies. This makes it possible to use specific ontologies like RSS
, FOAF
and the Dublin Core
directly from Java.
Sesame's API differs from comparable solutions in that it offers a stackable interface through which functionality can be added, and in that the storage engine is abstracted from the query interface. Many other triplestores
can be used through the Sesame API, including Mulgara
, Virtuoso Universal Server
, and AllegroGraph
. Through the stackable interface, functionality can be added to all of these stores. It can, for example, be used to add indexing and query capabilities to all compatible stores:
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
data. It was created, and is still being maintained, by the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
software company Aduna. It was originally developed as part of the "On-To-Knowledge", a semantic web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
project that ran from 1999 to 2002. It contains a triplestore
Triplestore
A triplestore is a purpose-built database for the storage and retrieval of Resource Description Framework metadata.Much like a relational database, one stores information in a triplestore and retrieves it via a query language...
.
Sesame supports two query languages: SeRQL and SPARQL
SPARQL
SPARQL is an RDF query language; its name is an acronym that stands for SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language. It was made a standard by the RDF Data Access Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium, and considered as one of the key technologies of semantic web...
. Another component of Sesame is Alibaba, an API that allows for mapping Java classes onto ontologies and for generating Java source files from ontologies. This makes it possible to use specific ontologies like RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
, FOAF
FOAF (software)
FOAF is a machine-readable ontology describing persons, their activities and their relations to other people and objects. Anyone can use FOAF to describe him or herself...
and the Dublin Core
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...
directly from Java.
Sesame's API differs from comparable solutions in that it offers a stackable interface through which functionality can be added, and in that the storage engine is abstracted from the query interface. Many other triplestores
Triplestore
A triplestore is a purpose-built database for the storage and retrieval of Resource Description Framework metadata.Much like a relational database, one stores information in a triplestore and retrieves it via a query language...
can be used through the Sesame API, including Mulgara
Mulgara (software)
Mulgara is a triplestore and fork of the original Kowari project. It is Open Source, scalable, and transaction-safe. Mulgara instances can be queried via the iTQL query language and the SPARQL query language.-History:...
, Virtuoso Universal Server
Virtuoso Universal Server
Virtuoso Universal Server is a middleware and database engine hybrid that combines the functionality of a traditional RDBMS, ORDBMS, virtual database, RDF, XML, free-text, web application server and file server functionality in a single system...
, and AllegroGraph
AllegroGraph
AllegroGraph is a closed source Graph database, an emerging category of databases. In contrast with a Relational database, a graph database considers each stored item to have any number of relationships. These relationships can be viewed as links, which together form a network, or graph....
. Through the stackable interface, functionality can be added to all of these stores. It can, for example, be used to add indexing and query capabilities to all compatible stores:
- Free text search capabilities can be added through the LuceneSail.
- GeospatialGeospatialGeospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...
and free text search can be added through the IndexingSail.
See also
- JenaJena (framework)Jena is an open source Semantic Web framework for Java. It provides an API to extract data from and write to RDF graphs. The graphs are represented as an abstract "model". A model can be sourced with data from files, databases, URLs or a combination of these...
- JRDFJRDF (framework)JRDF is an open source RDF framework for Java. It provides an object oriented model of RDF graphs including URIs, Literals and Blank Nodes. It was initially released in 2003 from work on the TKS and Kowari triple stores in order to provide an API that could be used to bridge other APIs such as...
- CubicWebCubicWebCubicWeb is an open source semantic web application framework, licensed under the LGPL. It is written in Python.It has been an open free software project since October 2008, but the project began in 2000 and was initially developed by for internal uses such as intranet, bug tracker and forge...
- MulgaraMulgara (software)Mulgara is a triplestore and fork of the original Kowari project. It is Open Source, scalable, and transaction-safe. Mulgara instances can be queried via the iTQL query language and the SPARQL query language.-History:...