whenToUseGet-7 Why call it WEB Serivces? (was: RE: FW: draft findings on Unsafe Methods (whenToUseGet-7))

Anne Thomas Manes writes:

>> Not that it matters, but I've never been overly 
>> found of the name "Web services", because Web 
>> services (based on the existing Web services
>> architecture) aren't constrained by Web technologies. 
>> A more accurate name would be "network services" or 
>> "XML application services"

Actually, I think the "Web" in Web services is important for reasons that 
may be of significance to the TAG.

Q: What makes the Web as we know it different from traditional 
terminal-to-host systems for information browsing?  A: the Web provides 
for worldwide interconnectivity on an ad hoc basis, without the need to 
preplan or preinstall individual connections. Indeed,  the word "Web" 
seems to emphasize that any-to-any connectivity. 

Q. What makes Web services different from more traditional means of 
interconnecting applications?  A. The same thing.  For the first time, we 
are building application interconnection architectures with late binding 
and ad hoc interconnectivity on a global scale.  My application can talk 
to your application, anywhere in the world, with no pre-planning.   Hence 
"Web" services.

Not coincidentally, we are using URI's to name application resources. 
Using URI's to name Web services not only shares the naming mechanism, it 
allows us to integrate the two worlds (my web page can link to your 
service, your service can return the URL of my web page).  So, it really 
is one Web. 

Maybe, as some believe, REST will be fundamental to achieving ad hoc 
application interconnectivity.  Maybe REST will just be a piece of the 
puzzle -- or maybe Web services will achieve its universal 
interconnectivity using different conventions such as UDDI and WSDL. 
Regardless, I think there is a clear sense in which the term "Web" is 
appropriate.  BTW, and I know this is controversial:  I prefer to view 
REST as a means of achieving the Web's goals, not as a defining 
characteristic of the web. 

Thanks very much.

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Received on Friday, 26 April 2002 17:45:13 UTC