Let me see if I understand what this is all about:
REST is kind of a philosphy of network client/server design. In the real world, HTTP (the actual protocol used to transfer web pages from www servers to your web browser) is an implemenation of that.
Basically, we send a URI to the server (just like when you type in "http://www.secondlife.com") and the server sends back a response with some XML stuff in it. That XML stuff can be data (such as an object or texture) or a status message (like "money transfer succeeded")
Is this going to eventually completely replace the protocol that the SL viewer uses to communicate with the servers, or is this going to be a secondary protocol that we would use for data exchange with third-party applications?
The other thing that I'm now curious about is whether we'd be able to interact with SL without actually showing an avatar. Sending IM's, transfering items, or looking at the various lists really are independent of the simulator. It would be nice if we could connect our third-party programs in a "sim-less" state for tasks that don't require interaction with the visible part of the SL grid.
[ Forgive me if that sounded dumb or weird. It's late, so stuff is just coming out of my brain without the usual filters. :-) ]
On 7/19/06, Jesse Nesbitt
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Wow, a RESTfull API. That's really cool.
Could you give us an example of a "capability" that would be provided
by said web service?
(BTW, Great to have LL "on-board" so to speak)
--Jesse
On 7/20/06, Donovan Preston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On Jul 19, 2006, at 9:22 PM, Phoenix wrote:
>
> > Now on to what I can do for you.
> >
> > We are in the midst of creating an http based capabilities system
> > which maps into system resources. During login and as you move
> > around the grid, those capabilities will will be made available to
> > a connected client through a REST-like interface. We will provide
> > some documentation for how those services work.
>
> Thanks, Phoenix, for publicly announcing our intentions in this area.
>
> I am Donovan Preston, and I have been recently hired by Linden Lab to
> help spearhead this web services effort. We are just getting started
> but will be moving quickly once we have some required infrastructure
> in place. We have several goals with this project.
>
> * Improve scalability by distributing load and data storage across
> machines, taking advantage of cacheability inherent in HTTP
> * Improve security by presenting a uniform way which access is
> granted to internal services
> * A "capability" is an unguessable url which confers upon the owner
> the right to access a resource
> * A "capability proxy" is a machine which responds to this public
> url and vouches for the bearer's right to access a private resource
> * Improve accessibility by presenting a uniform machine readable view
> of the world of second life
> * Resources will be expressed in a simple XML format
> * Access and mutation will be through HTTP GET and POST (as well as
> the other verbs), in a REST style
>
> So, to put it simply, the system is designed to:
>
> * Decrease lag by distributing load
> * Increase security by simplifying access
> * Increase developer ease-of-use by reducing reliance on binary
> protocols and UDP
>
> I look forward to working together with the libsecondlife team to
> make your lives easier, Second Life better, and the world a better
> place!
>
> Donovan
>
>
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> https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/libsecondlife-dev
>
--
--Jesse
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