Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Don't copyright API's
I would hope that API's are not and never become patentable. Should the magic inside the box? Perhaps... (although I think people should still be able to reverse engineer)... But the definition of the inputs, outputs, resources, and mechanisms (ICOMs)? Truly that should be okay. If the APIs can be written to by anyone, then you can have the car with the best engine, the best wheels, the best body... (yes, Mr. Ellison I concur you do not want to bolt on just any software, but given good engineering, you can end up with an excellent new product).
Web Services
Looks like mainframe apps are next in line for web services...
InfoWorld wrote a nice article on the subject; "Ivory keys in mainframe apps to Web services".
Service-oriented architectures... I read this as wrapping web services around an existing API so that other components can interact. As long as security is employed... Why not. I remember using IRMA subroutines years ago...
(Pre?) Client Server -- Good 'ole IRMA Subs
When I used to work for Generous Motors, I was in the supplier quality department. The engineers in our department used to use a mainframe manufacturing screen to guide them to a certain page of a literally foot thick report of engineering information! My boss wanted to get a dump of the engineering file, but the request was always denied...
So, with the help of a buddy, I wrote a BASIC program which given a list of part numbers, the program went to the mainframe screen, typed in the information, then peeled off the results and put that into a FOCUS database (fourth generation language with shared relational database management system... Very much like IBM's IMS).
It took a week to download! I showed the results to my boss; he showed the results to his boss; then his boss said he wanted this to happen each week. Well, my boss explained how we have been requesting the engineering file... Needless to say, within a short time we had our engineering file. :>
I would hope that API's are not and never become patentable. Should the magic inside the box? Perhaps... (although I think people should still be able to reverse engineer)... But the definition of the inputs, outputs, resources, and mechanisms (ICOMs)? Truly that should be okay. If the APIs can be written to by anyone, then you can have the car with the best engine, the best wheels, the best body... (yes, Mr. Ellison I concur you do not want to bolt on just any software, but given good engineering, you can end up with an excellent new product).
Web Services
Looks like mainframe apps are next in line for web services...
InfoWorld wrote a nice article on the subject; "Ivory keys in mainframe apps to Web services".
Service-oriented architectures... I read this as wrapping web services around an existing API so that other components can interact. As long as security is employed... Why not. I remember using IRMA subroutines years ago...
(Pre?) Client Server -- Good 'ole IRMA Subs
When I used to work for Generous Motors, I was in the supplier quality department. The engineers in our department used to use a mainframe manufacturing screen to guide them to a certain page of a literally foot thick report of engineering information! My boss wanted to get a dump of the engineering file, but the request was always denied...
So, with the help of a buddy, I wrote a BASIC program which given a list of part numbers, the program went to the mainframe screen, typed in the information, then peeled off the results and put that into a FOCUS database (fourth generation language with shared relational database management system... Very much like IBM's IMS).
It took a week to download! I showed the results to my boss; he showed the results to his boss; then his boss said he wanted this to happen each week. Well, my boss explained how we have been requesting the engineering file... Needless to say, within a short time we had our engineering file. :>
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