On Sat, Sep 27, 2003 at 03:57:21PM +0100, Robert Sanderson wrote:
> Right.  Each database lives at a separate URL endpoint, rather than the
> Z39.50 model of having a server which can maintain multiple databases.
> The reason being that URLs have practically zero cost, compared to
> dedicated servers listening on ports.
> And that there's nothing preventing implementers from writing a server
> which maintains multiple databases ... you just reference them by the URL.

Thanks for explaining that!  I don't think it will be a problem for
us.

> Zoom is an excellent abstraction for object oriented IR, but doesn't
> define a protocol itself ... it's just an OO interface to Z39.50 (and more
> recently to SRW in some implementations)

I don't quite understand why this is a problem.  Are you saying that
Zoom does not imply any sort of protocol behind it?  In a sense all we
are looking for is how one might include a Z39.50-like feature set as
part of the interface of a grid service instance; so an OO interface
might be suitable.

Nassib