Re: proposed change to a spec

David Booth wrote:
> On Mon, 2011-02-28 at 02:06 +0000, Nathan wrote:
>> I'm thinking about asking for HTTP-BIS to be changed, specifically the 
>> text in:
>>     http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-httpbis-p3-payload-12#section-4
>>
>> from:
>> [[
>>     A "representation" is information in a format that can be readily
>>     communicated from one party to another.  A resource representation is
>>     information that reflects the state of that resource, as observed at
>>     some point in the past (e.g., in a response to GET) or to be desired
>>     at some point in the future (e.g., in a PUT request).
>> ]]
>>
>> to:
>> [[
>>     A "representation" is information in a format that can be readily
>>     communicated from one party to another. A resource representation is
>>     a realization (copy/instance) of the state of that resource, as
>>     observed at some point in the past (e.g., in a response to GET) or to
>>     be desired at some point in the future (e.g., in a PUT request).
>> ]]
>>
>> does anybody here object?
> 
> Yes, vehemently.  Obviously what you GET is some reflection of the state
> of the resource, but the client cannot assume that the information it
> receives reflects the *full* state of the resource.  Any amount of
> complexity may be hidden behind the HTTP interface.  In fact, that
> complexity may not even be deterministic.  Consider today's weather in
> Oaxaca:
> http://www.weather.com/weather/today/Oaxaca+Mexico+MXOA0069 
> The full state of that resource certainly cannot be conveyed in the HTTP
> response.

what is the resource? information about the weather in Oaxaca Mexico, or 
"the weather" in Oaxaca Mexico?

do you fundamentally disagree with the notion of "information resource", 
such that the URI above in fact refers to the real world weather in that 
place at any instant in time?

Received on Monday, 28 February 2011 03:10:56 UTC