Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist, 2nd Edition

SPARQL Rules—Using SPARQL as a Rule Language

SPARQL CONSTRUCT allows us to specify templates of new information based on patterns found in old information. A specification of this sort is sometimes called a Rule, since it provides a way to specify things like “Whenever you see this, conclude that.” Examples of rules include data completeness rules (“If John’s father is Joe, then Joe’s son is John”), logical rules (“If Socrates is a man, and all men are mortal, then Socrates is mortal”), definitions (“If Ted’s sister is Maria’s mother, then Ted is Maria’s uncle”), as well as business rules (“Customers who have done more than $5000 worth of business with us are preferred customers”). Useful rules can often be expressed simply in SPARQL—though there ...