March 2009
Beginner to intermediate
384 pages
8h 40m
English
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Chapter 26. Agreeing to Disagree about Semantics
In This Chapter
Defining semantics in computer science
Anticipating the Semantic Web
Using semantics in data warehousing
Preparing for the semantic wave
In researching how best to present the topic of semantics, I searched many areas on the Web, including sites such as Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) and the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org). The concept of the Semantic Web is one with deep technical roots, but in its simplest sense, it's making the Web as easy to navigate for applications as it is for you and me (humans). You know to go to Google and search for the Finnish word for "monkey" — a computer cannot accomplish the same task without direction from you or me.
Defining Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in communication, including the meaning (or an interpretation of the meaning) of a word, sign, or sentence. How many times in the middle of an argument have you heard the phrase, "Let's not argue about semantics"? Linguists and semanticists have been dealing with semantics for a long time. However, in the world of computer science, semantics are relatively new.
In May 2001, Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, and Ora Lassila authored an article in the magazine Scientific American titled "The Semantic Web." You can find the article here:
www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-semantic-web
In the final line of this article, the authors state that the Semantic Web will open up the knowledge and workings of mankind to software agents ...
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I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.