An RDF query and transformation language

RDF Query Language proposals are numerous. However, the most prominent proposals are query languages that were conceived as first generation tryouts of RDF querying, with little or no RDF-specific implementation and use experience to guide design, and based on an ever changing set of syntactical and semantic specifications. In this chapter, we introduce a set of general requirements for an RDF query language. This set is compiled from discussions between RDF implementors, our own experience and user feedback that we received on our work in Sesame, as well as general principles of query language design. We go on to show how we have compiled these requirements into designing the SeRQL query language, and conclude that SeRQL can be considered a real second generation RDF querying and transformation language