RE: lack of consensus on httpRange-14

aha!  My cunning plan comes to fruition.  I was hoping to get Roy to post a
canonical message on this topic to www-tag.  I'd started to write one, but
Roy's is way way better.

Thanks Roy.

Cheers,
Dave

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roy T. Fielding [mailto:fielding@apache.org]
> Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 12:24 PM
> To: David Orchard
> Cc: 'Williams, Stuart'; 'Graham Klyne'; www-tag@w3.org
> Subject: Re: lack of consensus on httpRange-14
>
>
> > 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 15:44:58 UTC