Re: semantic web tools in a shared hosting environment

Hi Matthew,
> I’m hoping that someone can provide some advice/pointers on setting- 
> up/configuring semantic web tools (e.g. RDF parsers, SPARQL 
> services, etc.) in a shared hosting environment where one does not 
> have root access, etc. Assuming that languages such as Perl, 
> Python, and PHP are accessible (but not Java),
It might clarify your question to explicitly state "free or open- 
source tools", or "web scripting languages", if that's what you mean. 
You could install and run Java in your user account on a high port, or 
do the same with almost any commercial tool. Very few, I imagine, 
require root.
> For a small-scale application, is a true “triple store? database 
> actually necessary? Would it be simpler (especially for learning) 
> to simply use flat files? If so, this would potentially simplify my 
> configuration work.
If you're mostly concerned with serving RDF, you can do quite a lot by 
dumping some RDF to disk and configuring Apache correctly for content 
negotiation.
Anything beyond that, you probably want a persistent RDF store. If 
you're limited to a typical shared hosting setup, that probably means 
"some Apache-compatible language like PHP that stores its data in 
MySQL". I'm afraid I can't offer any advice in that area; others will 
doubtless mention Perl APIs, RAP, and others.
I have to say: if I were given this situation, I'd consider whether I 
would be best serving static files, or using a real RDF store. If the 
latter, I'd pay the small amount extra for a "real" host (e.g., 
Slicehost versus DreamHost) and use one of the many excellent RDF 
systems out there. The restrictions you imagine exist might not be 
necessary.
HTH!
-R