Traqula: Providing a foundation for the evolving SPARQL Ecosystem through modular Parsing, Transformation and Generation

Ghent University – imec – IDLab, Belgium

Paper at:
traqula-resource.
jitsedesmet.be

Available on npm, TypeScript and JavaScript, ESM and CJS
Managed by the Comunica Association, already used within Comunica

Overview

Problem
Traqula
Performance

One Query — Many Languages

SELECT ?person ?gmt ?certain
WHERE {
  ?r rdf:reifies <<( ?person ex:birthDate ?dateTime )>> ;
     ex:certain ?certain .
  BIND(ADJUST(?dateTime, "-PT0H"^^xsd:dayTimeDuration) as ?gmt))
  FILTER (?certain > 0.5 && MONTH(?gmt) = 1 ) .
}

A SPARQL 1.2 federated query targeting four endpoints with different SPARQL versions and extensions

Bridging is essential

Three key challenges

Query Evaluation

A SPARQL 1.2 query may fail on one endpoint and work on another

SPARQL 1.2 query
→ sent to SPARQL 1.0 endpoint
→ Error

Tooling

Linters, editors, and formatters assume a single SPARQL version

IDE, linter, language server
→ built for SPARQL 1.1
→ breaks on SPARQL 1.2 syntax

Maintainability

Multi-version support
→ messy, hard-to-maintain code

if SPARQL_1_1 ... 

                    else if SPARQL 1.2

→ duplicate code
→ Fragile codebase

SPARQL 1.2 and the expected maintenance mode will push new features, likely causing language diversity to grow.

Overview

Problem
Traqula
Performance

Demystifying parsers

Transform across query string, AST, and algebra

Flexibility through rule composition

Compose parsers, generators & transformers
Facilitating language experimentation & maintainability

Overview

Problem
Traqula
Performance

~10x faster than JavaScript/ TS tools

Language and parse targets affect speed

Already in production

Comunica

SPARQL Query Engine

Production Integration

Traqula replaces the now-deprecated
SPARQL.js + SPARQLAlgebra.js
in the widely-used
Comunica query engine

✓ Mature · In active use

8,279

tests

Includes tests from
SPARQL.js & SPARQLAlgebra.js

100%

test coverage

Complete line coverage
across all modules

MIT

open-source license

GitHub · npm
github.com/comunica/traqula

Comunica

Association Maintenance

Distributed responsibility
Long-term sustainability
Bounty system for features

Conclusion

Problem

SPARQL language heterogeneity is a growing challenge for query evaluation, tooling, and maintainability

Solution

Traqula: flexible · round-trippable · web-native · language-agnostic

Impact

Foundation for a unifying framework across languages and dialects. Ready for linters, formatters, LSPs, and future query languages

Also check out our demo
compose-parser-engine.demo.jitsedesmet.be

Traqula: Providing a foundation for the evolving SPARQL Ecosystem through modular Parsing, Transformation and Generation

Overview

Problem

Traqula

Performance

One Query — Many Languages

Three key challenges

Query Evaluation

Tooling

Maintainability

Overview

Problem

Traqula

Performance

Demystifying parsers

Demystifying parsers

Demystifying parsers

Demystifying parsers

Demystifying parsers

Demystifying parsers

Transform across query string, AST, and algebra

Transform across query string, AST, and algebra

Transform across query string, AST, and algebra

Flexibility through rule composition

Overview

Problem

Traqula

Performance

~10x faster than JavaScript/ TS tools

Language and parse targets affect speed

Already in production

Conclusion