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Subject: Re: [soa-rm-ra] OMG Pro Use of Agents [Resources & Capabilities]
Ken and Michael,
Straight from the W3C WSA...
"A service is an abstract resource that
represents a capability of performing tasks that represents a coherent
functionality from the point of view of provider entities [p.35] and requester
entities [p.36] . To be used, a service must be realized by a concrete provider
agent [p.34] ."
Does this
help get at your points? (Incidentally, the WSA adopts the RFC 2396 definition of a resource,
which is anything that can have an identifier.)
I think there
is another very important observation that warrants pointing out as part of this
discussion:
The way I see
it, a capability is more than just being able to perform certain
"tasks that represent coherent functionality." A capability also
includes certain quality attributes. In other words, it's not just
WHAT functions the resource (or service) performs but also HOW WELL it can
perform those functions. Could be a metric of reliability (99.7%
availability), performance (10 ms response time), or some other quality
attribute. Usually, we don't know this a priori of invoking a service
except for what is provided in the Service Description artifact.
Certainly, the Service Description artifact should include or at
least point to another artifact that describes the service's overall
capabilities (functionality and quality attributes) to help the prospective
consumer determine if it is a service worthy of meeting the consumer's
needs.
Cheers...
- Jeff
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