what is an rdf triple?

Question

what is an RDF TRIPLE in laymens terms please....

Answer 1

An RDF file should parse down to a list of triples.

A triple consists of a subject, a predicate, and an object. But what do these actually mean?

The subject is, well, the subject. It identifies what object the triple is describing.

The predicate defines the piece of data in the object we are giving a value to.

The object is the actual value.

From: http://www.robertprice.co.uk/robblog/archive/2004/10/What_Is_An_RDF_Triple_.shtml

Answer 2

It has been awhile since I worked with RDF, but here it goes :D

A triple is a subject, predicate and object.

The subject is a URI which uniquely identifies something. For example, your openid uniquely identifies you.

The object defines how the subject and object are related.

The predicate is some attribute of the subject. For example a name.

Given that, the triples form a graph S->P. Given more triplets, the graph grows. For example, you can have the same person identified as the subject of a bunch of triples, you can then connect all of the predicates through that unique subject.

Answer 3

An RDF Triple is a statement which relates one object to another. For Example:

gcc | Compiles | c
gcc | compiles | Java 
gcc | compiles | fortran
gcc | has a website at | http://gcc.gnu.org/
gcc | has a mailing list at | mailto:[email protected]
c | is a | programming language
c | is documented in | http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-Prentice-Hall-Software/dp/0131103628/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226085111&sr=8-1

Answer 4

RDF Triple is an actual expression that defines a way in which you can represent a relationship between objects. There are three parts to a triple: Subject, Predicate and Object (typically written in the same order). A predicate relates subject to object.

Subject ----Predicate---> Object

More useful information can be found at:

http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-concepts/

Answer 5

See: http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-concepts-20040210/#dfn-rdf-triple

An RDF triple contains three components:

• the subject, which is an RDF URI reference or a blank node
• the predicate, which is an RDF URI reference
• the object, which is an RDF URI reference, a literal or a blank node

where literals are essentially strings with optional language tags, and blank nodes are also strings. URIs, literals and blank nodes must be from pair-wise disjoint sets.

Answer 6

Regarding the answer by Adam N. I believe the O.P. asked a previous question regarding data for a social network, so although the answer is excellent, I will just clarify in relation to the "original original" question. (As I feel responsible).

    John | Is a Friend of | James
    James | Is a friend of | Jill
    Jill | Likes | Snowboarding
    Snowboarding | Is a | Sport

Using triples like this you can have a really flexible data structure.

Look at the Friend of a friend (FOAF) perhaps for a better example.

Answer 7

its a fact

Answer 8

Note, that it can get a bit more complicated. RDF triples can also be considered Subjects or Objects, so you can have something like: Bart -> said -> ( triples -> can be -> objects)

Answer 9

I think the question needs to be split into two parts - what is a triple and what makes an "RDF triple" so special?

Firstly, a triple is, as most of the other commenters here have already pointed out a statement in "subject/predicate/object" form - i.e. a stament linking one object (subject) to another object(object) or a literal. via a predicate. We are all familiar with triples: a triple is the smallest irreducible representation for binary relationship. In plain speak: a spreadsheet is a collection of triples: e.g. if a column in your spreadsheet has the heading "Paul" and a row has the heading "has Age" and the value in the cell is, for example, "22", then here you have a triple: Paul (subject) has Sister(predicate) Lisa (literal/object).

What makes RDF triples special is that EVERY PART of the triple has a URI associated with it (sorry for not showing an example: I tried and the Stackoverflow software interprets that asa hyperlink and doesn't allow me to post it) The analogy to the spreadsheet is that by giving every part of the URI a unique address, you give the cell in the spreadsheet its whole address space....so you could in principle stick every cell (if expressed in RDF triples) in the spreadsheet into a different document on a different server etc and reconstitute the spreadsheet through a single query.