Idea on conformance

I think that there's general agreement that it would be nice if webarch 
had a conformance section, but general puzzlement about what could 
usefully go in there.  Here's an idea: suppose we defined a document 
template called a Web Architecture Conformance Statement.  It would be 
organized along the lines of our principles, in which people could 
answer some questions yes/no, e.g., The important objects in this 
specification/program/whatever are identified by URIs: Y/N.  For those 
principles that don't lend themselves to a crisp yes or no, e.g. 
"carefully consider textual vs. binary", the document would include a 
place in which the person filling it out could put a paragraph 
outlining the reasons they made the choices they did.  Then, while we 
need not define a condition called "conformance", we can encourage 
authors of specifications and software modules to publish a Web 
Architecture Conformance Statement.  It need not be long or complex. 
-Tim

Received on Thursday, 11 December 2003 12:29:00 UTC