Towards sharing source code facts using linked data

Abstract

Linked Data is designed to support interoperability and sharing of open datasets by allowing on the fly inter-linking of data using the basic layers of the Semantic Web and the HTTP protocol. In our research, we focus on providing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) generation schema and a supporting ontological representation for the inter-linking of data extracted from source code ecosystems. As a result, we created the Source code ECOsystem Linked Data (SECOLD) framework that adheres to the Linked Data publication standard. The framework provides not only source code and facts that are usable by both humans and machines for browsing or querying, but it will also assist the research community at large in sharing and utilizing a standardized source code representation. The dataset has been submitted and registered to ckan.net, under the SECOLD project name, as the first source code Linked Data repository. In order to maintain its relevance to the research community, we plan to update the data set every four months. © 2011 ACM.