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Status: U Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 23:03:13 -0500 (EST) From: Ian Grigg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [dgc.chat] XML/X - part I Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] It is with some satisfaction that we announce the first public demonstration of a new project that we've been working on for the last six months. This demonstration is taking place at Java 1 this week, by Erwin Van der Koogh, a programmer with Sun's XML group in Dublin. He's also a WebFunds programmer, having been primarily responsible for the current generation. You can check out a scratch home page for the project at: http://www.webfunds.org/guide/xml/ We were looking some time ago at the difficulty faced by the various merchants in implementing access to the current money providers. As no merchant could really predict where the good money was, so to speak, it was pretty obvious that being able to implement a range of gold-based units was much less risky. But it was also rather impossible. The transfer methods for the systems ranged from pretending to be a browser, to accessing partially complete protocols to .. nothing. None of the systems in place seem to appeal as none of them have actually been thought out from the point of view of what we know about protocols and networks. It behoved us to come up with our own spend system. We were in the throes of developing our own web-based system, and we wanted that bit right. After all, a lot of demand comes from the support of the merchant class (a group we christened as Matildas, but that's a story for another day). Others, such as Intertrader, were still smarting at the cost of having developed access for different systems, and not having been able to efficiently deploy it because of the system bugs imposed on them. And, yet others simply didn't know where to start. It all begged for a standard. We sat down and drew one up. Now, because standards committees tend to be noisy, rumbunctious, and ultimately unproductive, unless they have a *very* solid mission to draw from, we decided not to make this a publicity thing in the beginning. That is, we decided to write it first, then open it up. All well and good, and of course, we chose to do our transfer interface in XML. We called it XML/X as a quick code name for the project, being transactions in XML. The results will be open source, the documentation will be readily available, and no fees will be levied on joining or using. Even though this project is about money, it makes more monetary sense to impose no barriers on its widespread adoption. A quick example might clarify what all this hyperbole is about. Imagine you have some accounts at a standard DGC such as e-gold, goldmoney, or one of those other systems such as PayPal. As a merchant, you want to initiate a transaction from your automated web system to pay out a customer. Or vice versa. So, you open up a connection to the money server and send down a stream of commands to cause it to happen. Here's how you would do it in today's XML/X: <TransferRequest> <Transfer> <ClientID> P9348235 </ClientID> <Payee> E3491 </Payee> <Payer> 34201-543 </Payer> <Amount> 45.23 </Amount> <Currency> Platinum </Currency> <Memo> Slicker than Slick </Memo> </Transfer> <Auth> <Username> iang </Username> <Password> Rock On </Password> </Auth> </TransferRequest> (Take that as an alpha - it's still evolving and is likely to change.) Consider this one feature as an example: In our XML/X, you can do a one-shot transfer and get a reliable result. It's reliable because you can resend it (see the <ClientID>?), and get the same result - one and only one transaction, as long as the server saw the instruction and acted at least once. That's pretty useful. In fact, it's so useful it is blessed with the otherwise indecipherable term of _idempotency_ (which means, it happens zero times or once, no matter how many times you send it). There are lots of other useful features, but they lack general interest unless one has social disabilities and wears a propellor. How useful would all that be to a cambist? Such near-latin would be even more useful if all systems offered the same interface. By designing in elements of protocols, it makes sense to adopt this one rather than roll your own. As an aside, XML/X incorporates elements from SOX, the most reliable protocol for money I've ever seen, although I admit to being a tad biased. But the best is yet to come... TO BE CONTINUED... Send email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with the word Help in the body of the message for help with list subscription. --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA The IBUC Symposium on Geodesic Capital April 3-4, 2002, The Downtown Harvard Club, Boston <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> for details... "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.