Apache Jena Explained

Apache Jena Semantic Web Framework
Developer:HP Labs (until October 2009), then Apache Software Foundation
Programming Language:Java
Genre:Semantic Web
License:Apache License 2.0

Apache Jena is an open source Semantic Web framework for Java. It provides an API to extract data from and write to RDF graphs. The graphs are represented as an abstract "model". A model can be sourced with data from files, databases, URLs or a combination of these. A model can also be queried through SPARQL 1.1.

Jena is similar to RDF4J (formerly OpenRDF Sesame); though, unlike RDF4J, Jena provides support for OWL (Web Ontology Language). The framework has various internal reasoners and the Pellet reasoner (an open source Java OWL-DL reasoner) can be set up to work in Jena.

Jena supports serialisation of RDF graphs to:

Versions

After Apache integration

Jena was integrated as a project under the umbrella of The Apache Software Foundation in April 2012, after having been in the Apache Incubator since November 2010.[1] [2]

Release NameDate
Apache Jena 4.5.02022-05-01
Apache Jena 4.4.02022-01-13
Apache Jena 4.3.22021-12-17
Apache Jena 4.3.12021-12-10
Apache Jena 4.3.02021-12-05
Apache Jena 4.2.02021-09-12
Apache Jena 4.1.02021-05-31
Apache Jena 4.0.02021-03-27
Apache Jena 3.17.02020-11-25
Apache Jena 3.16.02020-07-09
Apache Jena 3.15.02020-05-15
Apache Jena 3.14.02020-01-16
Apache Jena 3.13.12019-10-06
Apache Jena 3.13.02019-09-25
Apache Jena 3.12.02019-05-27
Apache Jena 3.11.02019-04-24
Apache Jena 3.10.02018-12-30
Apache Jena 3.9.02018-10-08
Apache Jena 3.8.02018-07-02
Apache Jena 3.7.02018-02-14
Apache Jena 3.6.02017-12-17
Apache Jena 3.5.02017-11-02
Apache Jena 3.4.02017-07-21
Apache Jena 3.3.02017-05-21
Apache Jena 3.2.02017-02-10
Apache Jena 3.1.02016-05-14
Apache Jena 3.0.02015-07-29
Apache Jena 2.13.02015-03-13
Apache Jena 2.12.02014-08-07
Apache Jena 2.11.02013-09-18
Apache Jena 2.10.02013-02-25
Apache Jena 2.7.02011-12-23

Before Apache integration

Jena was created by HP Labs and was on SourceForge since 2001, and was donated to The Apache Software Foundation in November 2010.[3]

Release NameDate
Jena 2.6.02009-05-18
Jena 2.12004-02-10
Jena 2.02003-08-28
Jena 1.1.02001-07-06
Jena 1.02000-08-28

Fuseki

Fuseki is an HTTP interface to RDF data. It supports SPARQL for querying and updating. The project is a sub-project of Jena and is developed as servlet. Fuseki can also be run stand-alone server as it ships preconfigured with the Jetty web server.

ARQ

ARQ is a query engine within Jena that supports SPARQL.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jena. The Apache Software Foundation. 2020-06-06.
  2. Web site: Jena. The Apache Software Foundation. Apache Jena provides a complete framework for building Semantic Web and Linked Data applications in Java, and provides: parsers for RDF/XML, Turtle and N-triples; a Java programming API; a complete implementation of the SPARQL query language; a rule-based inference engine for RDFS and OWL entailments; TDB (a non-SQL persistent triple store); SDB (a persistent triples store built on a relational store) and Fuseki, an RDF server using web protocols. Jena complies with all relevant recommendations for RDF and related technologies from the W3C.. 2020-06-06.
  3. Web site: [Proposal] Accept Jena into the Incubator]. The Apache Software Foundation. 2010-11-08. The open source project was originally created as part of a research activity in HPLabs. In building new systems, the researchers identified the value of a common platform that dealt with the low level details of the standards.. 2020-06-06.
  4. Web site: ARQ - A SPARQL Processor for Jena. 2019-08-11. ARQ is a query engine for Jena that supports the SPARQL RDF Query language. .