Re: New issue [distobj@acm.org: Re: What does WSDL describe?]

+1!

At 12:37 PM 10/24/2003, Amelia A. Lewis wrote:

>On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 12:00:52 -0400
>Mark Baker <distobj@acm.org> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Oct 24, 2003 at 11:07:35AM -0400, Amelia A. Lewis wrote:
> > > Perhaps this could be summarized as:
> > >
> > > ISSUE: should WSDL operations be restricted to state transfer only?
> >
> > Well, that would certainly resolve my issue! 8-)  But I'm not
> > suggesting that WSDL be restricted to state transfer, only that for a
> > given service, that the service be able to specify which it's using
> > (fwiw, this is closely related to issue 64, but more general).
> >
> > But sure, I'm also hoping that by explaining the differences between
> > message exchange and document exchange, that folks will begin to see
> > some of the value in REST, and that it's useful for more than just
> > browsers.
>
>It is not difficult to regard any particular instance of web services as
>REST.  It only requires regarding the WSDL as a resource.
>
>If WSDL is a resource, then a client, upon obtaining that resource, has
>acquired certain information about the state of the service.
>Specifically, it has acquired information about the formats required for
>further state transfers to and from the service.
>
>The state contained in each of the follow on messages may then include
>both data specific to the client ("12345"), and data from a subset of
>the communicated state of the service (selecting a verb, e.g. "add").
>
>Or, in other words, a part of the state transfer from client to service
>includes the verb, selected from among those which the service has
>advertised as available.
>
>This is a richer form of REST than that enshrined in RFC2616.  It
>provides a means for communicating the verbs to be used in state
>transfer as part of the mechanism (except that it doesn't actually
>define how one goes about acquiring a WSDL).  One could argue that it is
>*more* RESTful than HTTP, since it treats the verbal vocabulary as
>just-another-bit-of-state.
>
>Don't you just hate it when people twist things up like that?  *laugh*
>
>Amy!
>--
>Amelia A. Lewis
>Architect, TIBCO/Extensibility, Inc.
>alewis@tibco.com

Received on Saturday, 25 October 2003 13:13:08 UTC