Re: granularity/definition of a "service"

Interestingly, Problem-solving methods (PSMs), which are in many ways 
similar to owl-s atomic processes, seem to have been thought to have a 
finer granularity than "services". What they describe is rather 
algorithms, and these could be parts of services I guess...

/Daniel

Monika Solanki wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Keeping aside the "web" part, I am interested in understanding the 
> semantics of the word "service". Within the web service world, what is 
> the lowest level of granularity a service can have. What would be the 
> most appropriate definition for the basic building block from which 
> bigger units can be composed.  Services communicate via sending and 
> receiving messages. Can communication primitives also be classified as 
> services i.e in this context is it appropriate to consider the 
> operation of sending and receiving as services themselves and can they 
> be modelled as such ? The BPEL4WS specifies these and other control 
> constructs as "Activity". So in this context is a "service" at a 
> higher level of abstraction  then an "Activity" or do they have 
> equivalent semantics.
>
> -Monika
> **>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**
> Monika Solanki
> Software Technology Research Laboratory(STRL)
> De Montfort University
> Gateway building, G4.61
> The Gateway
> Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
>
> phone: +44 (0)116 250 6170 intern: 6170
> email: monika@dmu.ac.uk
> web: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~monika
> **>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**>><<**



-- 
Daniel Elenius
Usable Ubiquitous Research Group (U2)
Department of Computer and Information Science
Linköping University, Sweden
Tel: +46 13 28 56 06, Fax: +46 13 142 231

Received on Thursday, 16 September 2004 13:13:54 UTC