Re: pls review text added for what "required" means

At 11:06 AM 7/29/2004 -0400, Amelia A Lewis wrote:
>On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 10:52:32 -0400
>David Booth <dbooth@w3.org> wrote:
> > At 10:06 AM 7/29/2004 -0400, Amelia A Lewis wrote:
> > >Ugh, when did we get this awful "requester agent" and "provider agent"
> > >language?  I see it's already in the spec.  bleah.
> >
> > It is the terminology defined in the Web Services Architecture[1] and
> > Glossary[2] documents.
>. . .
>And is WSDL consistent?  We certainly don't use, or need to use, these
>terms in part two's MEPs, so far as I can recall.

I think our draft is consistent with the terminology used in the Web 
Services Architecture document, though I haven't checked it with a 
fine-tooth comb.

>Also, my objection to "provider agent" stands.  Please, let's use
>"service".  Or if someone has a reason to create this synonym, could those
>reasons be explained?

They aren't actually synonyms, as the Web Services Architecture document[1] 
explains:
[[
A Web service is an abstract notion that must be implemented by a concrete 
agent. (See Figure 1-1) The agent is the concrete piece of software or 
hardware that sends and receives messages, while the service is the 
resource characterized by the abstract set of functionality that is 
provided. To illustrate this distinction, you might implement a particular 
Web service using one agent one day (perhaps written in one programming 
language), and a different agent the next day (perhaps written in a 
different programming language) with the same functionality. Although the 
agent may have changed, the Web service remains the same.
]]

However, I don't think the distinction is significant in the contexts in 
which we're using the term "provider agent" in our spec, so I don't see a 
problem with using the term "service" instead.

1. http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#id2260073


-- 
David Booth
W3C Fellow / Hewlett-Packard
Telephone: +1.617.253.1273

Received on Thursday, 29 July 2004 12:08:47 UTC