Re: has XML, XSLT, XQuery and XML Schema have reached a stable state

Thanks, Noah for insightful remarks.
I agree to your comments.

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 5:28 AM,  <noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com> wrote:
> Mukul Gandhi writes:
>
>> Isn't HTTP 1.1 sufficient for us?
>
> I don't think one ever knows for sure in advance, and for that reason I'm
> not entirely comfortable with your question.  Certainly HTTP is an
> extensible protocol.  People do discuss new headers from time to time.
> When HTTP 1.1 was created, it was to better meet the performance and other
> needs of the Web traffic that was being supported.  Who knows?  Maybe in a
> few years it will be decided that an HTTP 1.2 or even HTTP 2.0 is needed,
> perhaps to better support something like video streaming.  Certainly, the
> fact that HTTP is so widely deployed tends to mean that major changes tend
> to impact a lot of people and implementations, and that somewhat raises
> the bar.  The HTTP 1.1 bis charter [1], which covers the next round of
> work on HTTP, states:
>
> The working group will refine RFC2616 to:
> * Incorporate errata and updates (e.g., references, IANA registries, ABNF)
> * Fix editorial problems which have led to misunderstandings of the
> specification
> * Clarify conformance requirements
> * Remove known ambiguities where they affect interoperability
> * Clarify existing methods of extensibility
> * Remove or deprecate those features that are not widely implemented and
> also unduly affect interoperability
> * Where necessary, add implementation advice
> * Document the security properties of HTTP and its associated  mechanisms
> (e.g., Basic and Digest authentication, cookies, TLS) for common
> applications
>
> In doing so, it should consider:
> * Implementer experience
> * Demonstrated use of HTTP
> * Impact on existing implementations and deployments
>
> Note that this does allow for removal or deprecation of features, and that
> would in fact represent a change to the conformance requirements as far as
> I know (albeit in areas that aren't widely or interoperably implemented
> anyway).
>
> Anyway, while it's possible in principle to state in advance that the
> community is attempting to freeze a specification for all time, I think
> that's rarely appropriate practice for the Web.  The Web will last a very
> long time.  The sorts of content and applications it will have to support,
> and the machines and networks that it will run on, will probably include
> things we can barely imagine now.  I think all we can do is to try very
> hard to build specifications that will adapt as gracefully as possible,
> and to minimize incompatible or disruptive changes when new requirements
> do dictate that the specifications should be revised.  Even mechanisms as
> core to the Web as URI's are being gradually adapted or augmented with new
> specifications like IRI.  I would expect the same to be true of HTTP over
> time.
>
> Noah
>
>
> [1] http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/httpbis-charter.html
>
> --------------------------------------
> Noah Mendelsohn
> IBM Corporation
> One Rogers Street
> Cambridge, MA 02142
> 1-617-693-4036
> --------------------------------------



-- 
Regards,
Mukul Gandhi

Received on Friday, 23 October 2009 00:45:07 UTC