RE: Layering in ebXML and WSA

I'd change the "and" to "or" below.  That is, "typical Web services
architectures are oriented toward late-bound or light operations".  Late
bound operations are just NOT a heavy hitter in our environment.
Virtually everything we are thinking about using Web services for, or I
think might think of in the reasonable future, are early bound.  This
mind-set is, in my view, one of the more interesting and significant
disconnects between businesses and many people in the W3C - but that's
another subject.

I'm also now becoming confused about what "light" means (even though I
think I used the term).  Let me take a crack at it:  In this context I
think that "light" refers to operations that do not carry complex
context information and which are expected and for which performance may
be expected to be an issue.  In particular, REST-like operations (I
know, I know -- you can do anything with REST, but I am talking about a
style here I think) tend to be light.  Idempotent and safe operations
are light.  Operations that are truly stateless are light.  Operations
that are part of an intricate conversation that is probably scripted are
NOT light.

I seem to be leaning toward the idea that Web services are oriented
towards operations that do not carry context or do so in a relatively
simple manner.  EbXML seems to be oriented towards operations with a
heavyweight, complex and rather specific set of capabilities to support
long-running business conversations in the manner to which many
businesses have become accustomed. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Champion, Mike [mailto:Mike.Champion@SoftwareAG-USA.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 8:33 AM
To: www-ws-arch@w3.org
Subject: Layering in ebXML and WSA



I for one am a bit overwhelmed by the "layers" thread.  What we need,
and which I think someone out there must have the ability to summarize,
is a paragraph or two on how messaging works in ebXML (all these
acronyms such as CPA are foreign to many of us!) and how that differs
from the more typical "stack" conception in various Web services
architectures.  

I don't see any responses to Roger's
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-ws-arch/2003Feb/0073.html
I'm especially interested in observations on his assertion that ebXML is
heavily oriented toward early-bound, "heavy" B2B/EDI operations whereas
typical Web services architectures are oriented toward late-bound and
light operations.  This sounds plausible to me, is it more or less
correct?

Finally, I'd like to see suggestions for how to discuss this in the WSA
document. What properties, relationships, and constraints characterize
ebXML messaging?

Thanks for helping to direct this very informative discussion in a
direction that is more useful to the WSA WG.

Mike Champion

Received on Friday, 14 February 2003 10:41:36 UTC