RE: The State FAQ

Hi all, 

> Just a thought:
> 
> System theory uses the term "state" in a behaviourial sense.  The state
> represents the "results" of all previous interactions with
> tha thing, with respect to how it will behave in a subsequent interaction.

In system theory, this is called a process - a sequence of states. A set of
all processes in a system determines system's behavior. Though, another view
on state is that state is a set of active functions in a system. 

Tomas Vitvar
DERI NUIG, Galway, Ireland


> If a thing, which may be accessed thru a URI, has behaviour which
> depends on its previous interactions, then the concept of state
> comes into play.
> 
> A print server has no relevant state for a print job, but it has state
> which is relevant to the system admin who has to replace
> paper and cartridges.  Thus state is relevant to the particular
> interaction which is being considered.
>
> Tom Rutt
> Fujitsu
> 
> [email protected] wrote:
> 
> >Hi, Mark,
> >
> >So if a request contains a list of URIs and the server needs to deference
> >all the URIs in order to process this request, would you consider this
> >stateful?
> >
> >Hao
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Mark Baker [mailto:[email protected]]
> >Sent: Saturday, 8 January 2005 2:29
> >To: Robert Mark Bram
> >Cc: [email protected]
> >Subject: Re: The State FAQ
> >
> >
> >
> >On Sat, Jan 08, 2005 at 02:09:22AM +1100, Robert Mark Bram wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Hi Mark,
> >>
> >>Well done on the FAQ!
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Thanks, Robert.
> >
> >
> >
> >>==
> >>1.1 What does it mean for something to be stateful or stateless?
> (4ZT)
> >>In general it just means that the thing encapsulates state (or not, for
> >>stateless).
> >>==
> >>
> >>I believe the definition should include something describing what state
> >>is. For example:
> >>
> >>In general it just means that the thing encapsulates state (or not, for
> >>stateless), where state can be thought of as a set of data or attributes
> >>or properties belonging to the stateful entity.
> >>
> >>It may seem obvious, but I think it is easy to confuse state as a set of
> >>data with a behavioral state as expected in a state transition diagram
> for
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >>example.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >I originally had a "What is state" question there, but the best answer I
> >could come up with was "data", so I removed it.  I note that yours says
> >much the same thing 8-)... though perhaps carries some redundancy with
> >"belonging to the stateful entity").
> >
> >But please, feel free to edit it yourself.  That's why I put it on a
> >Wiki!
> >
> >Mark.
> >
> >
> 
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Tom Rutt	email: [email protected]; [email protected]
> Tel: +1 732 801 5744          Fax: +1 732 774 5133
> 
> 
>