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Subject: Re: [soa-rm-ra] point of action


Ahhhh, yes, agreed.

Rex

At 8:01 AM -0700 8/17/06, Francis McCabe wrote:
>The action being referred to in a service interaction is not really 
>any private action. As you use a service to do something then you 
>are performing an action. (There may be consequential events that 
>follow that are internal.) That action has a point of action.
>
>Note that with the action-at-a-distance analogy getting clarity on 
>when and where the action is performed may be quite important. For 
>example, if you send a message declaring that you have agreed to a 
>contract, from the service provider's PoV, it is not until it 
>'groks' the message that it considers that you have actually agreed.
>
>Frank
>
>
>On Aug 17, 2006, at 7:24 AM, Ken Laskey wrote:
>
>>see below
>>
>>At 09:18 AM 8/17/2006, Rex Brooks wrote:
>>>I hope no one is surprised if I quibble with this particular 
>>>definition, which comes close, in my opinion, but fall just short 
>>>of the mark. I take exception with the choice of using the concept 
>>>of force per se, though I do understand and agree with the 
>>>requirement of making "action" transitive. I would apply a small 
>>>bit of mental jiu jitsu on this definition, thus:
>>>
>>>Action: the application of 'intent' to achieve an effect by an 
>>>agent on an object.
>>>
>>>Thus, the application of "intent" applies equally well to choosing 
>>>to do "nothing" and allow inertia/momentum to achieve an effect,
>>
>>but the application of nothing does not require an agent as the 
>>transferral entity if there is nothing to transfer, unless however 
>>you identify the agent as a way of establishing context for your 
>>intended nothing.
>>
>>>or to require action by some other agent to achieve, prevent or 
>>>allow an effect. In the study of heuristics, one of the least well 
>>>explored results is exactly this, the intentional refusal to act 
>>>per se, which, I contend, constitutes a decision, which is, in and 
>>>of itself, an action at a choice-point branching of a 
>>>decision-tree.
>>>
>>>BTW, this answers the last question below: Yes! and full 
>>>responsibility or culpability applies. Needless to say, this is 
>>>utterly critical to security. Choose not to apply a patch in time, 
>>>and you are caught holding the hot potato if bad things happen to 
>>>good systems.
>>
>>So the follow-up question is: what can be identified as the poa 
>>while still maintaining the SOA principle of opacity of the 
>>implementation of services and their underlying capabilities?
>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>Rex
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>At 7:55 AM -0400 8/17/06, Ken Laskey wrote:
>>>>Some comments from Frank that didn't get back to the list:
>>>>
>>>>Ken:
>>>>  The POA *is* the action as it is applied.
>>>>  If the service is the glove, the POA is the iron fist:)
>>>>
>>>>  Different people have different definitions of action, (try 
>>>>define:action in google). None of these definitions is all that 
>>>>satisfactory to me.
>>>>  My definition is adapted from John Sowa:
>>>>
>>>>Action: the application of force by an agent on an object with 
>>>>the intention of achieving an effect.
>>>>
>>>>  I.e., its a kind of event. The POA is a characterization of that 
>>>>event. (One reason I like this definition is that is includes all 
>>>>human actions but excludes rocks rolling down the hill hitting 
>>>>other rocks.)
>>>>
>>>>  The service interface is the characterization of what it means 
>>>>to perform an action. It is not the action itself though.
>>>>
>>>>  Hope that this throws a little light on the matter.
>>>>Frank
>>>>
>>>>Per Danny's response, I think he caught my question well with the 
>>>>final line of his response below:
>>>>
>>>>>One question
>>>>>we can ask is can we identify a point of action
>>>>>meaningful to the reference architecture that would
>>>>>not have a service interface?
>>>>
>>>>Ken
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On Aug 17, 2006, at 1:55 AM, Danny Thornton wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>To draw another analogy for the point of action, I
>>>>>know your mind will be the point of action for
>>>>>processing this e-mail as you read the e-mail.  The
>>>>>e-mail address and the english language is like a
>>>>>service interface.
>>>>>
>>>>>The SOA has many points of action, each point of
>>>>>action potentially affecting many other points of
>>>>>action.  We can identify points of action in a SOA
>>>>>relevant to the reference architecture.  One question
>>>>>we can ask is can we identify a point of action
>>>>>meaningful to the reference architecture that would
>>>>>not have a service interface?
>>>>>
>>>>>Danny
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--- Ken Laskey <<mailto:klaskey@mitre.org>klaskey@mitre.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>The following are from my notes at the ftf
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Point of Action (poa)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>-       Frank: anchoring mechanism for numerous
>>>>>>things, e.g. policy
>>>>>>enforcement, evaluating needs & capabilities
>>>>>>
>>>>>>-       Ken: how does poa relate to service
>>>>>>interface?  Frank:
>>>>>>service interface includes actions you can perform;
>>>>>>each instance of
>>>>>>use consists of performing action; actual action is
>>>>>>poa; interface
>>>>>>vs. poa is class vs. instance relationship; the
>>>>>>physical action is
>>>>>>the point of action
>>>>>>
>>>>>>-       [Ken] Given a policy is a desire of one
>>>>>>participant and an
>>>>>>agreement as part of the execution context for
>>>>>>participants to abide
>>>>>>by that policy (i.e. the other participant(s) agree
>>>>>>to make that
>>>>>>policy theirs), the policy enforcement point becomes
>>>>>>the point of
>>>>>>action for enforcing the agreed-upon policy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>-       [Frank alternative] A policy is a constraint
>>>>>>that represents
>>>>>>the desire of a participant. A contract is a
>>>>>>constraint that
>>>>>>represents the agreed desires of two or more
>>>>>>participants. A [policy]
>>>>>>enforcement point is the point of action for
>>>>>>enforcing constraints
>>>>>>that represent either policies or contracts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I've reread this and am still having problems
>>>>>>differentiating between
>>>>>>service interface and point of action.  It appears
>>>>>>that poa is more
>>>>>>general because it is the location to which a user
>>>>>>would send a
>>>>>>command for action.  If the receiver is a service,
>>>>>>then the poa would
>>>>>>seem to be the service interface.  In the policy
>>>>>>example, if the
>>>>>>enforcement mechanism is accessed through a service,
>>>>>>the PEP could be
>>>>>>said to have a service interface.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I still seem to be missing something.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Ken
>>>>>>
>>>>>>---
>>>>>>Ken Laskey
>>>>>>MITRE Corporation, M/S H305     phone:  703-983-7934
>>>>>>7515 Colshire Drive                        fax:
>>>>>>   703-983-1379
>>>>>>McLean VA 22102-7508
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>__________________________________________________
>>>>>Do You Yahoo!?
>>>>>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>>>>><http://mail.yahoo.com>http://mail.yahoo.com
>>>>
>>>>---
>>>>Ken Laskey
>>>>MITRE Corporation, M/S H305     phone:  703-983-7934
>>>>7515 Colshire Drive                        fax:        703-983-1379
>>>>McLean VA 22102-7508
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>Rex Brooks
>>>President, CEO
>>>Starbourne Communications Design
>>>GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison
>>>Berkeley, CA 94702
>>>Tel: 510-849-2309
>>
>>--
>>      
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>   /   Ken 
>>Laskey                                                                
>>\
>>  |    MITRE Corporation, M/S H305    phone:  703-983-7934   |
>>  |    7515 Colshire Drive                    fax:      
>>703-983-1379   |
>>   \   McLean VA 22102-7508                                              /
>>     
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 
Rex Brooks
President, CEO
Starbourne Communications Design
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison
Berkeley, CA 94702
Tel: 510-849-2309


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