RE: Another REST challenge

...at what point does P find out that he can't fasten a ski rack on a
convertible... ;-}

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Francis McCabe [mailto:fgm@fla.fujitsu.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 2:59 PM
> To: www-ws-arch@w3.org
> Subject: Another REST challenge
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a second use case, which I think also represents a 
> challenge to 
> REST. In this case, not so much that you could not do it is REST, but 
> that REST would not appear to `speak to' the use case in a meaningful 
> way (i.e., doesn't contribute much)
> 
> Imagine that you have a car rental service, owned by Hurtz (H) and a 
> punter (P). P wishes to rent a car from H and H wishes to 
> maximize its 
> opportunities.
> 
> P approaches H, and says "I'd like to hire a car"
> H replies, "Where, when and which class?"
> P replies "Denver, next week and do you have a convertible?" (I.e., 
> doesn't directly reply to H's question, but responds with another 
> question)
> H replies, "As it happens, we do, for $15/day extra"
> P replies "That sounds good"
> H says "We notice that you are going to denver in skiing 
> season; there's 
> a special on ski racks next week, are you interested?"
> P replies "Hey, sure"
> <some time later>
> P says "I've got an upgrade coupon, can I have an upgrade please?"
> H says "Mmmh, sure"
> 
> The point behind this use case is that it is in H's interest 
> to be able 
> to offer timely deals to P in order to maximize its 
> potential. However, 
> it is fairly unlikely that H can predict (at design time) all the 
> possible offers and even more unlikely that P can be built to ask for 
> ski packages, even though there IS a possibility that P could 
> make use 
> of such an offer.
> 
> In addition, P doesn't wish to trawl through H's list of car 
> specifications, instead it wishes to send a constraint or query to H 
> that encapsulates its preferences.
> 
> The benefit of this scenario should be obvious, even scary. From a 
> business POV, it makes it easier for suppliers to maximize 
> their profits 
> by making timely localized business choices that do not require 
> everybody (from the W3C on down) to agree beforehand on the range of 
> choices. From a customer's POV it makes it easier to integrate 
> customer's preferences in transactions.
> 
> Frank McCabe
>

Received on Thursday, 18 July 2002 20:02:23 UTC