RDF: Meaning as Triples

Resources

Specs

• W3C RDF 1.2 Primer - Gentle intro with examples, from the spec authors.
• W3C RDF 1.2 Concepts - Formal abstract data model. Read after the Primer.

In Semantic Web

• For how RDF compares to property graphs, see The Graph Space: Property Graph vs RDF.
• RDF provides the data layer. For vocabulary/class hierarchies, see RDFS (part of the OWL page). For querying, see SPARQL.

Others

• Baeldung: Introduction to RDF - Concise, covers triples, serialization formats (Turtle, JSON-LD, RDF/XML), and SPARQL basics.
• Enterprise Knowledge: The RDF Guide - Practical, application-focused. Good on why RDF matters for knowledge graphs.

Alternative Serialization Formats

RDF is an abstract model, not a file format. Multiple serializations exist:

• Turtle - Human-readable, most commonly used for hand-written RDF.
• JSON-LD - JSON-based, popular in web APIs and schema.org.
• RDF/XML - Original format, verbose, mostly legacy.
• N-Triples - One triple per line, simple but verbose. Good for streaming.