- From: Roy T. Fielding <fielding@apache.org>
- Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 12:23:41 -0700
- To: "David Orchard" <dorchard@bea.com>
- Cc: "'Williams, Stuart'" <skw@hplb.hpl.hp.com>, "'Graham Klyne'" <GK@NineByNine.org>, <www-tag@w3.org>
> And yes, there is a running joke in the TAG about the relationship of the
> Matrix and various quotes to the web/Resources/Representations/URIs.
> There
> are certainly variations as well, "... and you think that's resources that
> you are GETting?" :-)
Ahem... it's not just a joke -- I've been using that example since the
Matrix came out to force people to think about the generic interface
provided by HTTP. The point is that the resource does not exist -- a
resource is, essentially, an expectation that future representations
obtained via that interface will have a sameness in relation to past
representations.
People seek to identify a source of that sameness with a URI and
associate properties with that resource, just as Neo tries to associate
the known properties of a spoon with what the bald kid is holding.
People accessing a URI never see the actual resource -- they only
see representations of that resource over time, just as Neo's
awareness of the spoon is limited to his senses.
So, then, how do you bend a spoon? Simple. Drop a graphics processor
onto the interface such that the representations are morphed.
The spoon appears to bend because you have no way of distinguishing
one implementation from another, unless you happen to be the One
in control of the implementation. And, because of that, bending
the representations is sufficient for other observers to think
that you have actually bended the spoon.
Cheers,
Roy T. Fielding, Chief Scientist, Day Software
(roy.fielding@day.com) <http://www.day.com/>
Co-founder, The Apache Software Foundation
(fielding@apache.org) <http://www.apache.org/>
Received on Friday, 4 October 2002 15:25:23 UTC