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15 <h1 align="center">MathQL-1</h1>
17 <h2 align="center">A query language for RDF metadata</h2>
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33 <li><a href="features.html">Features</a></li>
38 <li><a href="documentation.html">Documentation</a></li>
44 <li><a href="implementation.html">Implementation</a><br>
50 <li><a href="authors.html">The authors</a><br>
57 <li><a href="links.html">Links</a><br>
65 <div align="right"><b>Forward</b><br>
68 The MathQL proposal rises in the context of the <a
69 href="http://helm.cs.unibo.it/">HELM project</a>, which aims at the development
70 of a suitable technology for the creation and maintenance of a virtual,
71 distributed, hypertextual library of structured mathematical knowledge
72 based on <a href="http://www.w3.org/XML/">XML</a> technology, through the
73 integration of the current proof assistants and logical frameworks with
74 the most recent technologies for the development of Web applications and
75 electronic publishing.<br>
77 The objective of the MathQL proposal is the development of a set of
78 query languages enabling the retrieval of formalized mathematical Web
79 resources on the basis of content-aware requests. The first of these languages,
80 <b>MathQL-1</b>, is focused on querying an arbitrary <a
81 href="http://www.w3.org/RDF/">RDF</a> database because RDF is the <a
82 href="http://www.w3.org/">W3C</a> standartd for describing Web resources
83 at the general-purpose content level.<br>
85 As an RDF query language, MathQL-1 provides the main features required
86 by the RDF community while complying with the needs of HELM. The peculiar
87 aspects of this language concern the query results, which are highly structured
88 and possess their own syntax, formally explained by a rigorous semantics.<br>
90 MathQL-1 is particularly helpful in distributed systems where query
91 engines are implemented as stand-alone units, because in this situation
92 the query results are exchanged between the system components as well as
93 the queries, and thus both the queries and the query results need to be
94 encoded in a clearly defined format.<br>
96 Other languages to be developed in the context of the MathQL proposal will
97 be suitable for queries about the semantic structure of mathematical data:
98 this will include content-based pattern-matching (MathQL-2) and possibly
99 other forms of formal matching involving for instance isomorphism, unification
100 and definitions expansion (MathQL-3).<br>
109 <div align="center">This site is maintained by Ferruccio Guidi, last update: