I now understand a little what I did not understand at all a few months ago:
how very hard the MRMW problem for RDF datasets is. So I’ve been casting about
for some simple ways to deliver cheap and very limited forms of MRMW that might
provide some “bang for the buck” for Jena users. One to which I keep coming
back is the idea of a dataset with per-graph transaction locking. In other
words, a dataset wherein each named graph has a SW lock and the dataset as a
whole can support MRMW, as long as every writer is working in a different
graph. Some examples of where this could be helpful:
* Linked Data persistence backends in which the graph about each
HTTP-accessible resource is stored in a separate named graph.
* Fast loading of quads from a sorted file (using multiple cursors).
* Persistence backends that use RDF (like the one that Claude recently
mentioned on users@) if they can be configured to take advantage of named
graphs.
Does this sound like it would be useful enough for me to spend some time
working out a design (after finishing what’s needed to RC-release the MR+SW
in-memory dataset)? I know we can never be sure about what users will find
handy until they start relying on it and praise it and complain about it…
{grin}
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A. Soroka
The University of Virginia Library
