[ogsa-wg] [OGSA-D-WG] Definition of "data service"

[Donal K. Fellows]

Natale, Bob wrote:
>> Crudely put, an "XYZ service" is a service that manipulates 1 or more
> "XYZ resources".
> 
> Hmmm.  I'd say that an "XYZ service" provides one or more "XZY
> capabilities", and those capabilities might manipulate one or more
> resources (including other services) from diverse domains (i.e.,
> including other than "XYZ").

I factor the same things slightly differently. :-) I think that the
capabilities (or at least most of them) are aspects of the resource and
what the service does is expose them. But that's really just cutting the
software into pieces at a slightly different point. I also feel that
when you've got the sort of situation you describe above, the service is
both an "XYZ service" and an "ABC service", but that's because I feel
that the service definitions are really just interfaces (to use Java
terminology; in other languages I'd use multiple inheritance to describe
what's going on) irrespective of how they're implemented.

> I could agree with the statement that, in an SOA, every resource will
> have at least one service whose primary (and perhaps sole) capability
> is to provide access to that resource.

That seems fair to me too.

Donal.