RE: Some comments on 27 June 2003 Web Arch WD

If one makes the definition contingent on observability, 
when the representation is returned, it is on the web 
regardless of the method used as long as a system method 
is used (thus REST).  On the Web is not a permanent condition; 
it is a testable condition.   So it is the same for the 
resource or the representation.  One never has to say 
what the web is; as Dan points out, the architecture 
document tells us that.  I disagree with Dan that it 
tells us what is "on the web", just the means of making 
the observation of the truth or falsity of the assertion.

len

From: David Orchard [mailto:dorchard@bea.com]

There are a number of aspects of "on the web".  The one that I'm focusing on
is whether the dereference operation requires a representation or not, and
hence the relationship between the retrieved representation and the URI.  In
particular, a HTML FORM POST sends a representation to a URI, and retrieves
a representation from a URI based upon the input representation.  But the
representation that is returned is not directly related to a URI, so that
resource is NOT "on the web".  And that's not a bad thing, just the way it
is.

You're focusing on the dynamic availability of the resource.  I would say
that there is some expectation, and I don't know how to qualify it, that the
resource will be available.  If cnn has an up time of 99.9999% of the time,
we probably consider it "on the web".  If cnn is only available 00.0001%, is
it on the web?  I don't know where the dividing line is.

I'd prefer to avoid the "availability" aspect as I don't think we can say
much.  But we certainly can talk about whether it's even possible for the
resource to be available.  In the case that I mentioned, the form post
result is never ever on the web.

Received on Friday, 11 July 2003 14:15:40 UTC