W3C Invites Implementations of five Candidate Recommendations for version 1.1 of the Resource Description Framework (RDF)

The RDF Working Group today published five Candidate Recommendations for version 1.1 of the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a widespread and stable technology for data interoperability:

• RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax defines the basics which underly all RDF syntaxes and systems. It provides for general data interoperability.
• RDF 1.1 Semantics defines the precise semantics of RDF data, supporting use with a wide range of "semantic" or "knowledge" technologies.
• RDF 1.1 N-Triples defines a simple line-oriented syntax for serializing RDF data. N-Triples is a minimalist subset of Turtle.
• RDF 1.1 TriG defines an extension to Turtle (aligned with SPARQL) for handling multiple RDF Graphs in a single document.
• RDF 1.1 N-Quads defines an extension to N-Triples for handling multiple RDF Graphs in a single document.

All of these technologies are now stable and ready to be widely implemented. Each specification (except Concepts) has an associated Test Suite and includes a link to an Implementation Report showing how various software currently fares on the tests. If you maintain RDF software, please review these specifications, update your software if necessary, and (if relevant) send in test results as explained in the Implementation Report.

RDF 1.1 is a refinement to the 2004 RDF specifications, designed to simplify and improve RDF without breaking existing deployments.

Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.