Re: [Siop-development] SIOP FAQ

[Kevin S. <wx...@qu...>]

On Sat, 2006-06-10 at 14:02 -0700, Rapheal Kaplan wrote:
>   I have posted a FAQ:
> 
> http://siop.net/wiki/index.php?pagename=SiopFaq
> 
>   Naturally, there is really only one question that people ask AT ALL, and the 
> page reflects it.  Naturally, this revision could use better wording.  How 
> does one explain what the hell this thing is?  For example, how do I explain 
> it to all of you??!?!!?

I think the explanation you have there is actually pretty good...but it
has a few gaps.

Mostly, how could this thing actually be used? It's funny, because I
actually really really wanted something exactly like SIOP a few years
ago...but now I can't remember why. I had found a similar project at
that time, but it was too immature, and the folks behind it seemed to be
a couple junior high tinkerers who had neither the knowledge nor the
follow-through to make it work.

So what are some examples of how someone might actually benefit from
this thing? Could I wrap wxpython and access it from a ruby app, instead
of creating wxruby? Could I write a ruby library for something like
statistics, and easily make it available to Python and Perl users? Or
would this be appropriate to create a web app where the web service part
runs as a separate process from the business logic part, even though
both are in Ruby?

An example is worth a million words.

Speaking of examples, a 5-line "server" and 5-line "client" would go a
long way toward showing what could be done. Something simple like a
getter on an object (employee.name).

A more detailed example might demonstrate the "key benefit" of SIOP over
CORBA and XMLRPC: automatic wrapping with no IDL declarations.

Probably as a separate Q/A: is the protocol binary or human-readable?
Although the answer doesn't really matter, it does speak to the
priorities of the project (speed vs. ease of debugging).

Kevin