[Noel Winstanley]

On 6 Feb 2007, at 12:23, Alasdair Allan wrote:

>
>> - identify interested parties (Feb 2007)
>
> Me! Me!
>

yup. me too.


>> 1.2 Prepare a short note on "Applications messaging for VO tools"
>> - define the scope of an Applications Messaging IVOA standard
>> - outline the major issues involved, and put the current  
>> possibilities
>> into the context of short and longer term goals. (end-Feb 2007)
>
> I'll state up front that I think the standard has to be language  
> neutral. We can't restrict ourselves to a single language, or  
> optimise the standard so it works best with a single language. So a  
> standard that relies on Java RMI alone is right out.

I think we'd all agree on that.

>
> We also want whatever we settle on to be blinding simple and widely  
> implemented. For instance almost all languages have an XML-RPC  
> implementation, even Javascript, and XML-RPC is a lot easier for  
> people to get their heads around than (for instance) SOAP. We're  
> writing the specification for a simple message passing system here,  
> not a overly complex full featured web service. We have to keep  
> things simple.

that's my position too. I don't think soap is the right tool for the  
job in this case.

I'd like to draw the group's attention to JSON -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Json
http://www.json.org/
as an increasingly popular alternative to XML-RPC, which is no more  
heavyweight, and is maybe a transport / representation that should  
also be considered.

>
> PLASTIC is one of the few "new" things that has come out of the  
> IVOA that I've seen people using in the wild, actual astronomers  
> independently discovering and using it because "Wow, that solves my  
> problems!" rather than after careful education.
>
> Like VOEvent, PLASTIC has been a quick win for the VO community and  
> serves as a perfect taster for what the VO can do for people, a  
> hook if you will. Astronomers see in the interesting and new stuff  
> they can now accomplish and think "Hmm, does this VO thingy do  
> anything else useful?"
>
> We're facing a major uphill battle for mind-share right now, we  
> need some quick wins.
>

yep - it'd be a shame to throw away all that good work and exposure.

cheers
noel.


---
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Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester
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