RE: [smartgrid-interest] Energy Market Information Exchange Charter - supporters wanted; ready for submission to create Technical Committee

Brian,

 

Pricing information will need to be conveyed by several
protocols – from Web Services to compact binary SCADA. As such, we have to
separate the information model from its conveyance. OASIS, I believe, will help
to define the information model and at least one Web Services means. However, I
think visibility of the need to convey the same semantics in other syntax’s
should help guide the effort.

 

I am a fan of the “REST” ful type of modeling, as I understand
it currently in a very limited way, in that it exposes rich information models
with generic basic services to accomplish action.

 

Cheers,

Marty

 

Dr. Martin J. Burns

President

Hypertek, Inc.

14624 Country Creek Lane,

North Potomac, MD 20878

P - 1(301)315-9101

C - 1(301)257-9101

 

 

 

From: Brian Frank
[mailto:] 

Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:26 AM

To: Considine, Toby (Campus Services IT)

Cc: William Cox; ; Toby Considine

Subject: Re: [smartgrid-interest] Energy Market Information Exchange
Charter - supporters wanted; ready for submission to create Technical Committee

 

My understanding as Bill said that this specification is
about *modeling* - nothing to do with transactions or protocols.

 

If that is true, then the two most important aspects of
modeling are:

  - type system

  - naming system

 

The type system is how we define data structures
and contractual definitions.  I will assume that the "type
system" will be XML Schema since it is the safe choice (despite being
quite poor as a modeling type system).

 

The naming system is how we identify entities and reference
them.  Any sophisticated model requires referencing things.
 Independent of the protocols used, RESTful means that we leverage URIs
for naming. 

 

Both modeling and naming are areas which oBIX has really
nailed.  But it doesn't sound like oBIX is being considered for the model
- which is fine and to be expected.  But both the type system and naming
system still matter a great deal, especially how they will interact with the overall
system.

 

 

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:59 AM, Considine, Toby (Campus
Services IT) <>
wrote:

Restful interactions have their
place. As APIs at a distance, they are clean and predictable. As part of
transactional systems and open bidding markets, one needs the rest of the WS
Transaction infrastructure. As part of a massively distributed delayed
environment that may involve long running workflows, one may need a
multi-document messaging based format. 

 

Zooming in on REST is a little
like zooming in on UDP, only a couple layers up. There are times when RESTful
connections are exactly what one needs. There are times when they are not.

 

tc

"A man should never be
ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying ... that he
is wiser today than yesterday." -- Jonathan Swift

 

  
  
Toby Considine

  
Chair, OASIS oBIX TC

  Facilities Technology Office

  University of North Carolina

  Chapel Hill, NC

  
  
  
  

  
  
  

  
Email: Toby.Considine@
  unc.edu

  Phone: (919)962-9073 

  

  
http://www.oasis-open.org
  

  
blog: www.NewDaedalus.com

  
 

 

 

From: Brian Frank [mailto:] 

Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:42 AM

To: William Cox

Cc: ; Toby Considine

Subject: Re: [smartgrid-interest] Energy Market Information Exchange
Charter - supporters wanted; ready for submission to create Technical Committee

 

 

Energy Market Information Exchange is an XML vocabulary to
express price and characteristics, so the means of communicating is not part of
the charter.

 

I can see how that is nice in theory, but I don't understand how that works
in practice.  At the very least any sophisticated modeling requires naming
things.  And naming things typically implies a way to reference those
named things.

 

So I guess my question is - will the model be RESTful in that
"things" are named and referenced with URIs?