Skip to main content

Triples

One uniform data structure​

In linked data, all data uses a very simple and universal structure. Anything that is described, every fact, is described like this:

A certain thing (a subject) has a certain value for a certain property.

And each such fact, is called a "triple".

Triples follow the following general form:

general triple structure

However, in LINCD (and many other places working with linked data), we like to use more intuitive language: things (subjects) have properties and values:

the names we use in LINCD

An example​

Let's take an example fact:

An example fact expressed as a triple

Rene (the subject), for the property has friend has a value Carlen. This is stored in one triple. Multiple facts (triples) together form a directed graph, where each triple is one edge between two nodes.

A triple

This graph above represents 4 facts. Also note that René has two values for the property 'has friend', which are each stored in different triples.