xml-dev - Re: need for defining standard APIs for xml storage

["KenNorth" <KenNorth@email.msn.com>]

<< It still seems that you're pigeonholing HTTP only as something to
carry a messaging or RPC protocol on top of (so _that_ protocol can
support an "API").

HTTP layered over TCP/IP is a ubiquitous transport for delivering content.
There are APIs that enable programmers to use TCP/IP sockets, to operate at
the HTTP level, or operate at even higher levels of abstraction.

Another way to approach this is the envelope metaphor -- deposit HTTP into a
TCP/IP envelope and extract it at the other end. You can carry this
further -- an envelope within an envelope. To place content within a TCP/IP
or HTTP envelope, you can use any number of APIs. The APIs you use are
driven by the content you are delivering. The content might be XML docs,
HTML pages, messages, or objects.

I don't think it's pigeonholing HTTP to say it's a protocol for delivering a
broad spectrum of content.

================== Ken North =============================
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Ken_North
See you at AD2000 (www.applicationdevelopment.com)
XML DevCon 2000 (www.xmldevcon2000.com)
===========================================================












================== Ken North =============================
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Ken_North
ken_north@compuserve.com  71301.1306@compuserve.com  KenNorth@msn.com
Ken North Computing   2604B El Camino Real, #351
Carlsbad, CA 92008-1214 Fax:760-729-5127 Ph:760-757-2362
===========================================================

----- Original Message -----
From: Ken MacLeod <ken@bitsko.slc.ut.us>
To: <xml-dev@xml.org>
Cc: KenNorth <KenNorth@email.msn.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: need for defining standard APIs for xml storage


> "KenNorth" <KenNorth@email.msn.com> writes:
>
> > > [Don't take me wrong, either, I'm not suggesting HTTP as an
> > > end-all API (or protocol) to any particular solution.  But to not
> > > include it on a list of APIs for XML storage, as your original
> > > message suggested,] simply because it doesn't fit one's
> > > preconceived notions as to "what is an API" seems to be a grievous
> > > error.
> >
> > Probably not my first, but I'll accept the risk of making a grievous
> > error.  The industry suffers from imprecise language. To me there is
> > a distinction between protocol and API, and there is no value in
> > blurring the distinction.
>
> OK, for the sake of precision and for the moment, let me disregard
> HTTP method definitions and agree with you that HTTP is only a
> protocol.
>
> Where does that leave HTTP as still being one of the most common ways
> to provide XML storage?
>
> It still seems that you're pigeonholing HTTP only as something to
> carry a messaging or RPC protocol on top of (so _that_ protocol can
> support an "API").  why?
>
>   -- Ken





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