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Re: terminology question

From: <mogul@pa.dec.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 99 13:08:22 -0700
Message-Id: <9904062008.AA08334@youra.pa.dec.com>
To: jschroeder@becomsys.de
Cc: http-wg@hplb.hpl.hp.com 
"Roy T. Fielding" <fielding@kiwi.ics.uci.edu> writes:

    >If I have a document that changes only over time (eg CGI output), then
    >are the different entities termed as different "variants"
    >of the same resource as well? Or is it only sensible at a given
    >instant? Is there any practical explanation available?
    
    A resource is a mapping function based on time, so its value set is
    based on the given instant.
    
I've suggested the term "instance" as a way to describe a member
of this instantaneous value set:

       The entity that would be returned in a status-200
       response to a GET request, at the current time, for
       the selected variant of the specified resource, but
       without the application of any content-coding or
       transfer-coding.

(see http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-mogul-http-digest-01.txt)

Without such a definition, it's fairly difficult to precisely specify
mechanisms such as delta encoding.

-Jeff
Received on Tuesday, 6 April 1999 21:09:05 EDT

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