Re: how to model a transfer

On 05/26/2012 11:26 PM, Manu Sporny wrote:
> Michiel, as we go through the PaySwarm and Commerce vocabulary
> definitions, keep in mind that they were written a while ago with the
> intent that they would change when new uses for them came up.

There is also a difference between a Transaction and a Transfer. A 
Transfer models *just* the transfer of an "amount" (of any sort of 
"currency") from A to B. The Asset information is in the Transaction, 
not in the Transfer. The Transaction is the container for all of the 
information involved in the full exchange of an Asset (a "Contract" is a 
type of Transaction). The Asset and any Transfers related to its 
exchange are coupled together in the same Transaction. I believe that it 
is in the Transaction (or its component parts: Listing, License, Asset) 
that shipping information, indicating that something is a gift, service 
provisions, etc. belong. It is within the Transaction that all sorts of 
other information can be modeled and customized.

We do need to be more clear and provide more examples for how to model 
various asset exchanges, but I also think we need to be careful not to 
conflate the two concepts. If we start pushing Transaction properties 
into Transfer, then we'll just eventually end up re-creating the same 
thing we have now: an object that describes a transaction in total 
(Transaction) that contains N other objects (Transfers) describing each 
of the amounts that have to move between a source and N destination 
accounts to complete the transaction.

-- 
Dave Longley
CTO
Digital Bazaar, Inc.

Received on Sunday, 27 May 2012 17:39:11 UTC