Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a methodology to describe and share graph data.
There are different syntax notations and formats for RDF.
Syntax Notations for RDF
Syntax notations for RDF:
- Turtle
- RDF/XML
- JSON-LD
Turtle
Terse RDF Triple Language (Turtle) is the most widely used syntax notation for RDF.
RDF/XML
RDF/XML is based on XML.
JSON-LD
JSON Linked Data (JSON-LD) is based on JSON.
Ontology Languages for RDF
Ontology languages featured on this post:
- RDF Schema
- OWL
- SHACL
RDF Schema
Resource Description Framework Schema (RDF Schema) is an ontology format.
It is a W3C recommendation.
OWL
Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a family of ontology formats.
They can be considered an evolution of RDF Schema.
There are different versions of the format, with their dialects:
- OWL 1
- OWL 2
SHACL
Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) is also a W3C standard to describe RDF data.
Vocabularies for RDF
Vocabularies for RDF:
- DCAT
DCAT
Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) is a W3C recommendation.
As of 2025, its latest version is 3.
DCAT v3 official recommendation
Query Languages for RDF
Query languages for RDF featured on this post:
- SPARQL
SPARQL is a query language for RDF.