RE: Precepts of Goland

At 09:48 AM 1/4/00 -0800, Yaron Goland wrote:
>So Spoke Jim Davis:
>
>> Precept #1a - An HTTP client sends an HTTP request message  
>> to a server...
>> 
>
>What is the difference between throwing in a new object, called a server,
>and describing an instance of a resource called the null resource? 

Well, this is just my intuition speaking, but I think many people are
comfortable with the idea of a "web server" being some chunk of software
that listens on a port, accepts HTTP requests, and interprets them somehow.
 It's a relatively familiar notion.  Surely if I talk about "the Apache Web
server" or Microsoft's IIS, people know roughly what I mean.  I am less
sure that people have an intuition about a null resource, especially since
we seem to need both a "plain" null resource and a "locked null" resource.
but again, this is just a hunch.

Even if I am right, it could also be that that very familiarity makes it
treacherous -- because t might be carrying conceptual baggage that does not
belong, e.g. people might start expecting WebDAV to provide a live property
that contains recent log entries or something.

Rather than debate this point any further, I will be silent a while and see
if anyone else has anything more principled to offer than a bare intuition.
 Or perhaps there is yet another Initial Precept.

regards

Jim