Kurzfassung

Graph-based data models allow for flexible data representation as needed for data exchange and integration. A graph-based data model includes structural information and it may include also, in the case of semantic data, schematic information as part of the data. The flexibility of graph-based data models makes them attractive, but programming with such data models is error-prone. A major reason is lack of type-safe integration into programming languages leaving the burden of correct typing on...Graph-based data models allow for flexible data representation as needed for data exchange and integration. A graph-based data model includes structural information and it may include also, in the case of semantic data, schematic information as part of the data. The flexibility of graph-based data models makes them attractive, but programming with such data models is error-prone. A major reason is lack of type-safe integration into programming languages leaving the burden of correct typing on the programmer.

Schema descriptions which are formally represented as logic-based data descriptions in the graph data itself are difficult to represent in programming languages. Problems arise due to the frequent use of multiple inheritance, mixture of structural and nominal typing, incomplete knowledge and sheer number of types in typical data sources. Moreover, a type-safe integration must not be limited to the representation of data descriptions, rather it must also cover type-safe, expressive data access such that each query is viewed as defining implicitly a new type.

The overall objective of the project is to allow for type-safe programming with graph data. This entails the integration of logics-based data descriptions, in particular DL concepts, into the type checking process of programming lanugages. Furthermore, we aim at integrating and providing types for queries (SPARQL) as types as well as querying (SPARQL). Lastly, the project is not only concerned with looking into the theoretical foundations, but also aims at empirically evaluating the usefulness of such an extended programming language.» weiterlesen» einklappen