Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Cliff Notes (was Confused about the working group)
Author: David McCusker Posted: 9/14/2000; 12:20:12 PM Topic: scriptingNews outline for 9/14/2000 Msg #: 21326 (In response to 21314) Prev/Next: 21325 / 21327
(As an aside, I have no problems with Tim Berners-Lee. He seems a smart guy from what I've seen in his explanation of why side effects from an HTTP Get operation are a bad idea. I like this much math savvy. Anyway, I have no intention to make him sound stupid.)Here's a radical reduction of the XML Protocol Charter (http://www.w3.org/2000/09/XML-Protocol-Charter.html) to a ridiculously threadbare set of terms. Since this reduction is on a section by section basis, it tends to lose all context from interconnections in the text. I aim to keep a hundredth part of the original, but it's hard to cut that much.
This reduction only intends to be interesting, and to stimulate thought after seeing how inadequately this brief version actually represents the whole charter. This kind of approach can be useful, but sometimes is not. The trick is to avoid losing something crucial in the extreme paring away of extra detail.
1. Scope
Value: Inter agent comms enhance web apps.
Focus: sync and async XML over existing transports.
Parts: envelope, conventions, serialization, HTTP
Goals: agnostic, simple, modular, extensible
1.1 Simplicity
Simplicity is big but relative. Modularity and layering help.
Less is more, but compatibility will impact simplicity.
1.2 Evolvability
Orthogonal extension is tricky.
1.3 Intermediaries
Language must support composition.
1.4 Representation
Other models besides XML and RDF need serialization without penalty. They change, so orthogonality must be maximized for freedom.
2. Out of Scope
"XML Protocol" is too broad, so we downplay some things.
2.1 Binary Data
Ignore binary format languages.
2.2 Compression
Size is no priority.
2.3 Transport
Ignore (new?) transports scaling better than HTTP.
2.4 Apps
Avoid app semantic targets.
2.5 Metadata
Metainfo looks like other content and is not privileged.
3. Schedule
One or two month sized steps.
4. Relations
Internal: coordinate with XML, RDF, and HTTP work.
External: return calls from IETF, ebXML, and RosettaNet.
5. Members
Official inhouse nominees and chair invited experts.
5.1 Email
Mailing list.
5.2 Web
Public home page.
5.4 Flesh
Closed door.
5.5 Resources
Dirty dozen.
5.6 W3C
Loaner.
5.7 IP
Share dammit.
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