- From: Mike Taylor <mike@tecc.co.uk>
- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 10:56:16 +0100 (BST)
- To: redeagle@freeuk.com
- CC: www-zig@w3.org
> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 23:48:01 +0100 > From: "Stevio" <redeagle@freeuk.com> > > What is Z39.50, in layman's terms? From the front page of the Z39.50 Maintenance Agency's web site at http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/ -- "Z39.50" refers to the International Standard, ISO 23950: "Information Retrieval (Z39.50): Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification", and to ANSI/NISO Z39.50. The Library of Congress is the Maintenance Agency and Registration Authority for both standards, which are technically identical (though with minor editorial differences). The standard specifies a client/server-based protocol for searching and retrieving information from remote databases. So just as HTTP is a protocol by which clients and view hypertext documents held on a server, and SMTP is a protocol by which clients can send email messages to servers, so Z39.50 is a protocol by which clients can search databases held on servers. _/|_ _______________________________________________________________ /o ) \/ Mike Taylor <mike@miketaylor.org.uk> www.miketaylor.org.uk )_v__/\ "I love English: in what other language can you make things so obscure by explaining them?" -- Zenlizard.
Received on Friday, 12 July 2002 05:56:18 UTC