RE: Snapshot of Web Services Glossary on Response types

I normally interpret people to mean the following when they talk about
the difference between a synchronous or asynchronous _response_. There
are lots of other meanings to these terms as applied to other entities.
I would not disagree with people lamenting the terminology selected, but
it is a done deal at this point, IMO.


A web service response is said to be synchronous iff it is returned
using the same network connection used in sending the request to which
it is a response. 

[This implies that only one URL would be needed for request-response MEP
when the response is synchronous and uses a transfer protocol that has
URLs. It also implies that the request and response occur within the
interval of time that the network connection exists. Also, there is
overhead in setting up only one TCP connection when TCP is used, and
since we are talking about IP _connections_ that will be almost always
the case.]

A web service response is said to asynchronous iff it is returned using
a network connection that is distinct from that used for sending the
request to which it is a response.

[Implications: Two URLs are needed to configure a request-response MEP
when the response is synchronous. The response connection may occur
while the request connection is still open or after it is closed. For
TCP-based transfer protocols, two connection setups will be needed.]

Received on Tuesday, 25 February 2003 11:18:00 UTC