Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: How to start WAPping

Author:Bryan Morgan
Posted:12/19/1999; 12:48:47 PM
Topic:How to start WAPping
Msg #:13732 (In response to 13707)
Prev/Next:13731 / 13733

To clear up some of the questions concerning HTTP and WAP, I'll interject my viewpoints, if you don't mind. It is entirely possible to build a WAP application (using compiled WML/WMLScript) and serve it using HTTP. However, the only devices that will be able to view this application must connect using TCP/IP over some type of connection (BellSouth Wireless, CDPD, Dial-Up, etc.)

It is also possible to serve WAP via a WAP Gateway (i.e. the Nokia WAP Server) however this will not make use of HTTP on the client end (the client, in fact, interacts with the gateway using UDP). The Gateway can access back-end servers via HTTP but the client is not necessarily using HTTP. On the Web, TCP/IP is a bottom-line requirement. In the wireless world, there are literally dozens of connectivity options. The WAP design allows for the carrier (or bearer, as they are also called) to make use of WAP on virtually any network type.

Just a short while ago it was highly likely that your cellular phone would be rendered useless by travelling to another state (or sometimes even another county!). Imagine a company trying to build a wireless data application for multiple wireless data networks (due to offices in, for instance, Atlanta and Seattle). Wireless middleware from vendors such as NetTech and Aether helps solve this problem and WAP is just another building block in this solution.

You can read through some of the technical WAP reference documents to get an idea of what lengths they've gone to in order to ensure maximum throughput and reliability of data. Will it always be this way? I think not. I can't imagine a wireless world in 10 years using a totally different protocol than the rest of the Web. Of course, we won't be looking at 9600 baud throughput then, either.



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