Re: the meaning of stateless

On Apr 25, 2013, at 4:15 AM, Markus Lanthaler <[email protected]> wrote:
> That's true and I think that's where your confusion comes from. There are indeed two types of states: application state and resource state.
> 

Finally! I think that comparison phrase "application state vs resource state" illuminates what I'm been struggling to understand, thank you.

I can now see that what I've been confused about fits into a "resource state."  Saying it's "application state" has been of no help without having a comparison other type of state such as "resource state."

> For example, if you browse through a paginated collection the server must not keep track of the last page the client visited. That's up to client.
> 
> 

This was a helpful example.  I can see now that the page a client is viewing is nothing about the collection but instead it's about the client's current view of the collection. The fact the page changes does not change the collection in any way.

As a further example if I had a session that kept track of the layout the client wants to receive, i.e. tabular vs. card view that would also be application state.

OTOH, if the purpose of a session was ONLY to keep track of the ID of the user then that would seem to be no different from an auth header cookie that authenticates the user. And that kind of session would not be bad because it's about client identity and not application state, right?

> No need to apologize :-)
> 

Thanks again for humoring me on my quest for understanding.  I think I've gotten a much better handled on it on, thanks to you.

-Mike