D-AG0005 Summary

Goal Statement:

"[To develop a standard reference architecture for web services that]
applies the "KISS" principle and is defined such that it does not
impose high barriers to entry for its intended audience"

This was proposed by Chris Ferris in
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-ws-arch/2002Mar/0445.html
and there have not been further suggestions.

The Critical Success Factors seem to be:

 - The reference architecture should be easily understandable by the
target audience.

* does it avoid specialized jargon not familiar to ordinary software
designers?
* is it stated in simple declarative sentences?
* is it organized in a way that allows important points to be located?
* does it use illustrations to visually describe key components and
relationships?

 - The reference architecture should be as minimal as possible

* How many components does it describe?
* How many relationships among the components does it describe?
* How do these figures compare to those of notable exemplars of good
reference architectures?
* Could any components or relationships be removed without significantly
limiting the value of the architecture?

  -  The reference architecture should simplify the task of a
programmer writing interoperable implementations of specifications of
components described by the architecture.

* is the role played by each component in the overall architecture stated
clearly?
* are the interdependencies among components noted explicitly?
* are existing specs that fufill the role of a given component referenced?
* are the resulting implementations actually interoperable?

 - The reference architecture should simplify the task of an
application programmer using the specifications it describes

* does the reference architecture not force a programmer to use exotic
constructions? 
* Can the architecture be implemented without large amounts of code? 
* Does it allow simple invocations as well as elaborations with more
functionality when building web services or applications that employ web
services.

Received on Monday, 1 April 2002 09:03:20 UTC