Table Access Protocol

[Doug Tody]

Hi All -

The Table Access Protocol (TAP) is being developed as a joint effort
of the VOQL-TEG (technical experts group) and the DAL WG, represented
within the TEG by myself.  TAP will be used to access table data,
hence is a data access protocol, however TAP is a mere sub-project
of the VOQL-TEG, which is broader in scope.

A consistent approach for both TAP and the other second generation
data access protocols (SSAP, SIA-V2, etc.) will be highly desirable,
both for consistency, and to promote code sharing in DAL service and
client implementations, and for eventual integration of ADQL-based
query capabilities into the other DAL services.

Except for a few folks from other working groups who have been
contacted on specific points, TAP is at this point only being discussed
within the TEG.  Working with our colleagues within VOQL and the TEG,
we plan to soon have a first draft of the TAP protocol (probably with
many aspects still TBD, or only sketched out), at which time it will
be distributed pubically within both the VOQL and DAL working groups.
However, anyone from DAL who is interested and would like to comment
sooner, is welcome to review the archived email from the VOQL-TEG
discussion list, and forward comments either to myself or to the
DAL list (posting to the VOQL-TEG list is limited to members only).
There are many DAL-related posts in this mailing list, which I have
not forwarded to DAL due to the closed nature of the TEG "tiger-team"
discussions at this point.

You can find the VOQL-TEG list here:

     http://www.ivoa.net/forum/voql-teg/

Any comments from the broader DAL working group on TAP or related
issues are very welcome.

 	- Doug