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Principle of Sustainable Complexity

• To: "'xml-dev@l...'" <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: Principle of Sustainable Complexity
• From: Micah Dubinko <MDubinko@c...>
• Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 10:06:32 -0800

I've been observing the discussions here on SOAP, Web Services, HTTP, REST,
WSIO, and so on. 

Also with interest I observed Simon's thoughts on an 'XMLchucker'
protocol--a simple send with (at most) a checksum back. I don't doubt that
such a straightforward protocol is already in use today, though it's hardly
as press-worthy as huge corporations "teaming" on pseudo-standards
organization.

[side note: Another variant is also widely in use: process A deposits an XML
file in a well-known file system location; process B reads, handles, and
deletes the file. Call it XMLbaton.]

There isn't a rich set of technical writings behind the simple concepts like
XMLchucker or XMLbaton. For one thing, the concepts are so simple that
interop isn't an issue. So what's to write down? Any kind of a standards
organization (real or pseudo) wouldn't be able to get membership for a spec
that would fit on a single page. At some level in an organization, there are
pointy-haired managers who can't justify the expense of getting "only" a
one-page spec from all their "hard work".

Are there aspects of Web Services that should be this simple, but are being
made more complex only in order to satisfy the principle of Sustainable
Complexity?

.micah

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