XML-RPC and http

[Mark Baker]

Dave Winer wrote:
> Since we're engaging at a new level, Mark -- you'll find "get" and "set" in
> virtually every programmatic interface, even those that predate the Web.

Certainly.  You don't find "get", "set", and "insert" (POST) in many
though.  The only one I know of is Linda, the Yale tuple space project.

> Think through the alternative and make a proposal, and I think you'll find
> that you just push the problem into the URLs. You'd need a separate URL for
> each handler. That's certainly workable, but it isn't the way we went.

It's more than workable.  TimBL likes to say stuff like (paraphrasing),
"everything of importance on the Web should have an URL".  More URLs =
goodness.

Can you explain why you didn't make the style sheet available via HTTP
GET rather than using a "get" XML-RPC method over HTTP POST?  Is the
style sheet already available at some other URL via GET?  If not, how is
it referenced in an HTML LINK statement?

> Like
> so many things in programming there are lots of ways to do the same thing.
> The way to go forward is to choose one, and start building the next layer
> up. I'm very gratified that after years of venting the same argument over
> and over you decided to actually look at what we're doing with this
> technology.

I guess you missed my previous attempt last March 8-(  Granted though,
it was done in haste, and isn't as clear as it could be.

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2000Mar/0033.html

> There's more looking to do. Interview some web writers and
> designers and find out what they hate about the Web. Then look at the
> Manila-RPC interface, and look at how Radio ties into it, and you'll
> probably be an enthusiastic supporter. Or not. Dave

Dave, I am without a doubt an enthusiastic supporter of *what* you are
doing by exposing the internals of your products through a published
scriptable interface.  I mean that.  You're way ahead of your time. 
It's *how* you're doing it that I take issue with, because I believe it
could be done so much better.

MB