Towards tackling SPARQL heterogeneity through modular parsing

The SPARQL ecosystem has become increasingly fragmented as engines introduce valuable but incompatible language extensions. This growing diversity undermines query portability, tooling reliability, and the pace of innovation. To address this, we designed a modular parser architecture that supports dynamic extension and modular grammar definitions. This paper presents a builder-based, TypeScript-native parser framework inspired by Chevrotain and the modular principles of Comunica. Our prototype demonstrates that key SPARQL extensions can be integrated, altered, or removed with minimal effort and strong type safety. These results suggest that modular, declarative parsing is not only feasible but essential for keeping pace with evolving SPARQL standards. Looking forward, we identify the need for round-trippable ASTs, Babel-inspired generators, and transformer pipelines to enable a complete, future-proof SPARQL toolchain.

@inproceedings{desmet_semdev_modularsparqlparsing_2025,
  author = {De Smet, Jitse and Taelman, Ruben},
  title = {Towards tackling SPARQL heterogeneity through modular parsing},
  month = sep,
  booktitle = {Joint Proceedings of Posters, Demos, Workshops, and Tutorials of the 21st International Conference on Semantic Systems co-located with 20th International Conference on Semantic Systems (SEMANTiCS 2025)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://traqula-demo-semantics-2025.jitsedesmet.be/}
}