5,680 research outputs found
Global Numerical Constraints on Trees
We introduce a logical foundation to reason on tree structures with
constraints on the number of node occurrences. Related formalisms are limited
to express occurrence constraints on particular tree regions, as for instance
the children of a given node. By contrast, the logic introduced in the present
work can concisely express numerical bounds on any region, descendants or
ancestors for instance. We prove that the logic is decidable in single
exponential time even if the numerical constraints are in binary form. We also
illustrate the usage of the logic in the description of numerical constraints
on multi-directional path queries on XML documents. Furthermore, numerical
restrictions on regular languages (XML schemas) can also be concisely described
by the logic. This implies a characterization of decidable counting extensions
of XPath queries and XML schemas. Moreover, as the logic is closed under
negation, it can thus be used as an optimal reasoning framework for testing
emptiness, containment and equivalence
Ensuring Query Compatibility with Evolving XML Schemas
During the life cycle of an XML application, both schemas and queries may
change from one version to another. Schema evolutions may affect query results
and potentially the validity of produced data. Nowadays, a challenge is to
assess and accommodate the impact of theses changes in rapidly evolving XML
applications.
This article proposes a logical framework and tool for verifying
forward/backward compatibility issues involving schemas and queries. First, it
allows analyzing relations between schemas. Second, it allows XML designers to
identify queries that must be reformulated in order to produce the expected
results across successive schema versions. Third, it allows examining more
precisely the impact of schema changes over queries, therefore facilitating
their reformulation
A Direct Translation from XPath to Nondeterministic Automata
Abstract. Since navigational aspects of XPath correspond to first-order definability, it has been proposed to use the analogy with the very successful technique of translating LTL into automata, and produce efficient translations of XPath queries into automata on unranked trees. These translations can then be used for a variety of reasoning tasks such as XPath consistency, or optimization, under XML schema constraints. In the verification scenarios, translations into both nondeterministic and alternating automata are used. But while a direct translation from XPath into alternating automata is known, only an indirect translation into nondeterministic automata- going via intermediate logics- exists. A direct translation is desirable as most XML specifications have particularly nice translations into nondeterministic automata and it is natural to use such automata to reason about XPath and schemas. The goal of the paper is to produce such a direct translation of XPath into nondeterministic automata.
Reasoning about XML with temporal logics and automata
We show that problems arising in static analysis of XML specifications and transformations can be dealt with using techniques similar to those developed for static analysis of programs. Many properties of interest in the XML context are related to navigation, and can be formulated in temporal logics for trees. We choose a logic that admits a simple single-exponential translation into unranked tree automata, in the spirit of the classical LTL-to-BĆ¼chi automata translation. Automata arising from this translation have a number of additional properties; in particular, they are convenient for reasoning about unary node-selecting queries, which are important in the XML context. We give two applications of such reasoning: one deals with a classical XML problem of reasoning about navigation in the presence of schemas, and the other relates to verifying security properties of XML views
Four Lessons in Versatility or How Query Languages Adapt to the Web
Exposing not only human-centered information, but machine-processable data on the Web is one of the commonalities of recent Web trends. It has enabled a new kind of applications and businesses where the data is used in ways not foreseen by the data providers. Yet this exposition has fractured the Web into islands of data, each in different Web formats: Some providers choose XML, others RDF, again others JSON or OWL, for their data, even in similar domains. This fracturing stifles innovation as application builders have to cope not only with one Web stack (e.g., XML technology) but with several ones, each of considerable complexity. With Xcerpt we have developed a rule- and pattern based query language that aims to give shield application builders from much of this complexity: In a single query language XML and RDF data can be accessed, processed, combined, and re-published. Though the need for combined access to XML and RDF data has been recognized in previous work (including the W3Cās GRDDL), our approach differs in four main aspects: (1) We provide a single language (rather than two separate or embedded languages), thus minimizing the conceptual overhead of dealing with disparate data formats. (2) Both the declarative (logic-based) and the operational semantics are unified in that they apply for querying XML and RDF in the same way. (3) We show that the resulting query language can be implemented reusing traditional database technology, if desirable. Nevertheless, we also give a unified evaluation approach based on interval labelings of graphs that is at least as fast as existing approaches for tree-shaped XML data, yet provides linear time and space querying also for many RDF graphs. We believe that Web query languages are the right tool for declarative data access in Web applications and that Xcerpt is a significant step towards a more convenient, yet highly efficient data access in a āWeb of Dataā
Reasoning & Querying ā State of the Art
Various query languages for Web and Semantic Web data, both for practical use and as an area of research in the scientific community, have emerged in recent years. At the same time, the broad adoption of the internet where keyword search is used in many applications, e.g. search engines, has familiarized casual users with using keyword queries to retrieve information on the internet. Unlike this easy-to-use querying, traditional query languages require knowledge of the language itself as well as of the data to be queried. Keyword-based query languages for XML and RDF bridge the gap between the two, aiming at enabling simple querying of semi-structured data, which is relevant e.g. in the context of the emerging Semantic Web. This article presents an overview of the field of keyword querying for XML and RDF
Answering SPARQL queries modulo RDF Schema with paths
SPARQL is the standard query language for RDF graphs. In its strict
instantiation, it only offers querying according to the RDF semantics and would
thus ignore the semantics of data expressed with respect to (RDF) schemas or
(OWL) ontologies. Several extensions to SPARQL have been proposed to query RDF
data modulo RDFS, i.e., interpreting the query with RDFS semantics and/or
considering external ontologies. We introduce a general framework which allows
for expressing query answering modulo a particular semantics in an homogeneous
way. In this paper, we discuss extensions of SPARQL that use regular
expressions to navigate RDF graphs and may be used to answer queries
considering RDFS semantics. We also consider their embedding as extensions of
SPARQL. These SPARQL extensions are interpreted within the proposed framework
and their drawbacks are presented. In particular, we show that the PSPARQL
query language, a strict extension of SPARQL offering transitive closure,
allows for answering SPARQL queries modulo RDFS graphs with the same complexity
as SPARQL through a simple transformation of the queries. We also consider
languages which, in addition to paths, provide constraints. In particular, we
present and compare nSPARQL and our proposal CPSPARQL. We show that CPSPARQL is
expressive enough to answer full SPARQL queries modulo RDFS. Finally, we
compare the expressiveness and complexity of both nSPARQL and the corresponding
fragment of CPSPARQL, that we call cpSPARQL. We show that both languages have
the same complexity through cpSPARQL, being a proper extension of SPARQL graph
patterns, is more expressive than nSPARQL.Comment: RR-8394; alkhateeb2003
Web and Semantic Web Query Languages
A number of techniques have been developed to facilitate
powerful data retrieval on the Web and Semantic Web. Three categories
of Web query languages can be distinguished, according to the format
of the data they can retrieve: XML, RDF and Topic Maps. This article
introduces the spectrum of languages falling into these categories
and summarises their salient aspects. The languages are introduced using
common sample data and query types. Key aspects of the query
languages considered are stressed in a conclusion
- ā¦