RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)

RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)
  -----Original Message-----
  From: www-ws-arch-request@w3.org [mailto:www-ws-arch-request@w3.org]On
Behalf Of David Orchard
  Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 8:42 AM
  To: www-ws-arch@w3.org
  Subject: RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


  What classifies as "wait for a response"?  I typically think of a
synchronous definition as "a programmatic flow of control on the sender
effectively does nothing but wait for a response after sending it's
request".  And before everybody goes gaga over showing edge cases that are
asynch that have flow of control, or multiple flows of control that are
synch, that's not the real issue.  The point is that synchronicity typically
has the notion of *something* blocking and waiting for the response.

  What's wrong with this definition?

  Let's say I have a flow of control that begins by sending a request and
ends by sending a response. That flow of control is synchronous, it would
wait for the response.

  My implementation can do multiple flows of control in parallel talking to
different services (or even the same one) at the same time. But each flow
that starts with a request and ends with a response will synchronize with
some other flow that also starts with the request and ends with a response
(though one is send/receive and one is receive/send).

  A flow that is described by an input and an output derived from the
operation definition is after all doing nothing but waiting for the
response. Says nothing about other flows going on in parallel, even as part
of a larger parent flow.

  arkin


  Another approach is to couple synchronicity with connections.  So
synchronous is where the request and response flow forwards and backwards
over the same virtual connection between the sender and receiver.  Of
course, it's possible to have synch interactions over non-synch connections,
which is why I think that synchronicity is more of a feature of program
logic than bits on the wire.

  Hey look, textual suggestion and only 8 sentences of prose.

  Cheers,
  Dave
    -----Original Message-----
    From: www-ws-arch-request@w3.org [mailto:www-ws-arch-request@w3.org]On
Behalf Of Assaf Arkin
    Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 10:42 PM
    To: Walden Mathews; Ugo Corda; www-ws-arch@w3.org
    Subject: RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


    I just love permutations ;-)

    Seriously. In order to say that something is synchronous you need to say
what it is that's synchronous.

    The definition given below only describes a synchronous
(request/response) operation but doesn't describe an asynchronous
(input-only or output-only) operation, so it's only half way there. We still
need to describe asynchronous operations.

    And it describes the operation based on how the protocol works, which is
interesting and important, but still says nothing about the operation
itself.

    arkin

     -----Original Message-----
    From: Walden Mathews [mailto:waldenm@optonline.net]
    Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 7:29 PM
    To: Assaf Arkin; Ugo Corda; www-ws-arch@w3.org
    Subject: Re: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


      Arkin,

      I don't understand where your fascination with these permutations
      is coming from.  I thought the goal was to define the two terms, one
      definition each, and let it go at that (if possible).

      Walden
        ----- Original Message -----
        From: Assaf Arkin
        To: Ugo Corda ; www-ws-arch@w3.org
        Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 3:51 PM
        Subject: RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


        Actually, yours can be easily phrased in terms of mine:

        A synchronous interaction (= reqeust/response) is communicated
asynchronously when the request and response are chronologically decoupled.
In other words ...

        A synchronous interaction is communicated synchronoulsy if the
reverse could be said.

        Which of course begs the question, what about an asynchronous
interaction. Say I just send a message but don't expect a response?

        An asynchronous interaction (= send or receive) is communicated
asynchronoulsy when the sender does not have to wait for the receiver to
receive the message.

        An asynchronous interaction is communicated synchronoulsy if the
reverse could be said.

        arkin
          -----Original Message-----
          From: Ugo Corda [mailto:UCorda@SeeBeyond.com]
          Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 12:46 PM
          To: Assaf Arkin; www-ws-arch@w3.org
          Subject: RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


          Well, it's a matter of definitions, and evidently yours does not
correspond to mine. I hope people will vote soon so that we can put this
issue behind ...

          Ugo
            -----Original Message-----
            From: Assaf Arkin [mailto:arkin@intalio.com]
            Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 12:15 PM
            To: Ugo Corda; www-ws-arch@w3.org
            Subject: RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


            I think you have just defined a synchronous interaction
(request/response, see formal definition) in terms of an asynchronous
transport (i.e. one that does send and receive actions independently).

            arkin
              -----Original Message-----
              From: www-ws-arch-request@w3.org
[mailto:www-ws-arch-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of Ugo Corda
              Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 7:36 AM
              To: Ugo Corda; www-ws-arch@w3.org
              Subject: RE: Sync Definition #2 (corrected)


              Asynchronous:
              A request/response interaction is said to be asynchronous when
the request and response are chronologically decoupled. In other words, the
client agent does not have to "wait" for the response once it issues the
initial request. The exact meaning of "not having to wait" depends on the
characteristics of the client agent (including the transfer protocol it
uses). Examples include receiving the response on a different thread, on a
different socket, on a different end-point, by polling the server, etc.

              Synchronous:
              The opposite of asynchronous.