http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/OOP/oo-web-talk
otherwise known as
A Post-Hoc Rationalization of the Object Oriented Design of the World Wide Web
a half year ago and meant to point it out to y'all. Essentially, by
investigating the duality between APIs and network protocols, Dan Connolly
re-discovers the design of the Web, and the relationship between
mobile/distributed objects and knowledge sharing/exchange.
His thesis is that the hypermedia architecture of the web is isomorphic
to--or perhaps a special case of--modern distributed object systems.
(Ron -- don't get too excited, being as this is mostly in outline form,
but you can definitely see his line of reasoning here quite clearly.)
In this report, we find the trivial mapping of HTTP into an RPC system,
and go forward from there, introducing objects, using caching of RPCs,
adding RFC822 expressiveness, using RPC versioning and exception
facilities, using typed arguments, using authentication, using context
handles, using streams, adding filesystem caching semantics to streams,
adding security... even intelligent naming (though DC misspells it as
"intellegent" :) through anchors, symbols, and monikers... Plus, some
notes on evolvability, interface negotiation, profiles (name servies and
binding), filters, generic object interfaces, dynamic dispatch, and
composable web objects. Plus, the hint that documents are NOT the only
object type.
Rohit, was there something in this document I wanted to call attention
to but have since forgotten?
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
Information is a weapon. Arm yourself.
-- Nikkei Weekly, http://www.japanone.com/in1-h.htm