Hello,
We wish to present a proposal to create a new project in the incubator
called VXQuery. Please find below, the plain-text version of the
proposal. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Vinayak
VXQueryProposal
Abstract
Apache VXQuery is a language processor that implements the XML Query
Language v1.0 standardized by the W3C.
Proposal
VXQuery (Versatile XQuery) will be a standards compliant XML Query
processor implemented in Java. We believe that there exists a strong
(and growing) need to process semi-structured data in many applications.
The W3C standardized v1.0 of the XML Query Language in early 2007. Since
then, a few processors have surfaced (both commercial and open source).
VXQuery will implement this standard.
VXQuery plans to be the glue that brings together imperative programming
in Java and declarative programming in XQuery. The project would enable
developers to use XQuery to navigate and transform application objects
declaratively in Java applications with minimal overhead.
In the VXQuery project we plan to build an implementation that allows
users to run declarative XQueries on arbitrary object models. Existing
XQuery engines execute queries by translating the user data into some
form of XML Object model. With VXQuery, we take the opposing view -
Translate the query to work natively on the user's object model.
In addition, VXQuery works on top of different XML representations
including DOM, Stax, and a space optimized model motivated by Xalan's
DTM (Document Table Model).
VXQuery will also provide a library that allows application developers
to express declarative queries without the need to learn a new syntax.
We believe that this will speed up the adoption process.
Current Status
This is a new project.
Meritocracy
The initial developers are very familiar with meritocratic open source
development at Apache. Apache was chosen specifically because the
initial developers want to encourage this style of development for the
project.
Community
VXQuery seeks to develop developer and user communities during incubation.
Core Developers
The core members of the project are diverse. Vinayak Borkar is an
independent consultant. Till Westmann works for a company that would be
a potential consumer of VXQuery. During incubation the developers base
will be broadened.
Alignment
XQuery is gaining more traction as a XML management technology and there
already are several Apache projects ([WWW] XMLBeans, [WWW] Camel, [WWW]
Tuscany) that use or need a XQuery implementation. As no such
implementation is available as an Apache project these projects have to
rely on external engines. VXQuery can fill this gap and complement the
XML support of the Apache Software Foundation.
Known Risks
Orphaned products
VXQuery is new development.
Inexperience with Open Source
The initial developers include long-time open source developers. Vinayak
Borkar is an active contributor to the Zorba project at the FLWOR
foundation.
Relationships with Other Apache Products
XMLBeans is a representation of XML that would be natively supported in
VXQuery. Therefore VXQuery can be used as an efficient and
Apache-licensed implementation for the [WWW] selectPath and execQuery
methods found in XMLBeans.
Similarly, [WWW] Tuscany's SDO implementation can be natively supported
and VXQuery can be used to provide an [WWW] XQuery implementation for
Tuscany.
VXQuery can also be used as an XQuery implementation for [WWW] Camel.
Further, VXQuery uses the Xerces XML parser and schema validator.
A Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand
We believe in the processes, systems, and framework Apache has put in
place. Apache is also known to foster a great community around their
projects and provide exposure. While these points are important, they
are not the main motivation for choosing Apache to host VXQuery.
Documentation
Not publicly available
Initial Source
Not publicly available
External Dependencies
[WWW] JavaCC (BSD license), [WWW] Davos SDO implementation (Apache 2.0
license), [WWW] Woodstox XML parser (Apache 2.0 license), [WWW] XStream
project (BSD license)
Required Resources
Developer and user mailing lists
[MAILTO] vxquery-...@incubator.apache.org [MAILTO]
vxquery-us...@incubator.apache.org [MAILTO]
vxquery-comm...@incubator.apache.org
A subversion repository
[WWW] https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/vxquery
A JIRA issue tracker
VXQuery (VXQUERY)
Initial Committers
*
Vinayak Borkar <vborky at yahoo dot com>
*
Till Westmann <till at westmann dot org>
*
Cezar Andrei <cezar at apache dot org> [Have CLA]
*
Michael Carey <mjcarey at ics dot uci dot edu>
Sponsors
*
XMLBeans PMC
Champion
*
Cezar Andrei
Nominated Mentors
*
Looking for mentors
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