As promised, here’s a draft of introductory text
and glossary entries for six key words in the CPPA spec. In the context of CPPA, I propose that
(1) client and server concern software, (2) requester and
responder concern business interaction, and (3) sender and
receiver concern messages.
Comments are welcome.
Tony
Proposed Introductory
Material
The CPPA specification is concerned with software
that conducts business by exchanging messages. In particular, it is concerned with
client and server software programs that engage in business requests and
responses by sending and receiving messages. Under the terms of a CPA, client
software invokes a service provided by server software, a requester initiates
a business collaboration or business transaction with a responder, and a
sender transmits a message to a receiver. Thus, the client and server are
software counterparts, the requester and responder are business counterparts,
and the sender and receiver are messaging counterparts. There is no fixed relationship between
counterparts of different types.
For example, consider a purchasing collaboration. Client software representing the
buying party might make a purchase request by sending a message containing a
purchase order that is received by server software representing the selling
party. If the CPA specifies a
synchronous business response, the server might then respond by sending a
message containing an acceptance notice back to the client. Alternatively, if the CPA specifies an
asynchronous business response, client software representing the selling party
might later respond by sending a message containing an acceptance notice that
is received by server software representing the buying party.
Proposed Glossary
Entries
CLIENT – software that invokes a service provided
by a server.
SERVER – software that provides a service when
invoked by a client.
REQUESTER – initiator of a business collaboration
or business transaction.
RESPONDER – a counterpart to the initiator in a
business collaboration or business transaction.
SENDER – transmitter of a
message.
RECEIVER – recipient of a
message.