RE: Draft of Definitions

Overall comments:

One thing that I see missing from these definitions is the sense that messages, operations, and operation sets are abstract -- collectively they define an abstract service type. Bindings map an abstract service type to concrete protocols (a service type), and a port maps a binding to a specific instance of the service type.  

Comments on Keith's edits:

- A message does not necessarily contain only application-specific data. Header information often doesn't contain application data, and yet headers are defined as messages. 

- An operation does not necessarily have an input message. A notification has only an output message.

- A port maps a binding to an endpoint of an _instance_ of the service type.

- A service is a logical grouping of ports, not bindings.

Best regards,

Anne Thomas Manes
CTO, Systinet 
www.systinet.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-ws-desc-request@w3.org [mailto:www-ws-desc-request@w3.org]On
> Behalf Of Keith Ballinger
> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 2:06 AM
> To: David Booth; Keith Ballinger
> Cc: www-ws-desc@w3.org
> Subject: RE: Draft of Definitions
> 
> 
> Some minor edits:
>  
> Message
> Application specific data to be communicated as a single logical 
> transmission.
> 
> Operation
> A set of messages that correlate to a single action. An operation 
> associates an input message with zero or more output and error messages.
> 
> OperationSet (a/k/a "Port Type")
> A logical grouping of operations.
> 
> Binding
> An association between an OperationSet and the specific wire 
> format, application protocol, and transport protocol to be used 
> to transmit the messages. <Keith>I don't like this wording much. 
> This is a difficult concept, and seems to be really about three 
> separate but related ideas. </Keith>  
> 
> Port
> An association between a binding and a network address that may be used to
> communicate with the Service. <Keith>This feels uneeded as a 
> normative definition. </Keith>
> 
> Service
> A logical grouping of bindings.
> 
>  -----Original Message----- 
>  From: David Booth [mailto:dbooth@w3.org] 
>  Sent: Tue 3/12/2002 2:28 PM 
>  To: Keith Ballinger 
>  Cc: www-ws-desc@w3.org 
>  Subject: Draft of Definitions
>  
>  
> 
>  Keith,
>  
>  Here is an initial draft of definitions.  What do you think?
>  
>  David Booth
>  
>    ---------------------------------- cut here
>  ------------------------------------
>  
>  Non-Normative Definitions
>  =========================
>  
>  Web Service
>  Software that performs a task on behalf of one or more 
> Clients, typically
>  over a network, using protocols defined in this document. 
> [This definition
>  may change, subject to guidance from the Web Services 
> Architecture Working
>  Group.]
>  
>  Client
>  Software that makes use of a Web Service, acting as its 
> "user" or "customer".
>  
>  Normative Definitions
>  =====================
>  
>  Message
>  Data to be communicated to or from a Web Service as a single logical
>  transmission.
>  
>  Operation
>  A single logical action supported by the Service. An 
> operation associates
>  an input message with one or more output or error messages.
>  
>  OperationSet (a/k/a "Port Type")
>  A logical grouping of operations supported by the Service.
>  
>  Binding
>  An association between an OperationSet, a concrete protocol 
> and a data
>  format that specifies the protocol and data format that may 
> be used to
>  communicate with the Service.
>  
>  Port
>  An association between a Binding and a network address that 
> may be used to
>  communicate with the Service.
>  
>  Service
>  A collection of Ports.
>  
>  [End]
>  
>  
>

Received on Wednesday, 13 March 2002 09:22:22 UTC