Re: Perl 5 Classes for the Web (CGI and libwww)
Martijn Koster (m.koster@nexor.co.uk)
Wed, 15 Mar 1995 15:32:46 +0000
> There is a very clear design difference between a Web client and an
> HTTP server. A client does not want the same stuff that a server needs,
> and vice versa.
But both can share bits where possible.
> Similarly, there is a very clear difference between a
> newsreader (NNTP client) and a Web client with an interface to NNTP.
> Since that cannot be done in practice, it is reasonable to have
>
> WWW::http
> WWW::ftp
> WWW::gopher
> WWW::wais
> WWW::nntp
> WWW::news
>
> These interfaces may use some other base class to do the real work --
> their purpose is to provide a consistant client interface, just as the
> real WWW does, to those other protocols.
>
> The perl4 libwww-perl is only a client-side library,
Absolutely, and the perl5'ifying I've been doing has the same
philosophy.
But Tim is right in saying WWW::* is getting crowded. There may be
more to WWW::* than a consistent client-side interface to protocols,
so maybe the client-side interface should sit deeper down, like
WWW::ClientInterface::HTTP.pm or something? That way others could
decide that an CGI/HTML /whatever modules should also sit below WWW.
-- Martijn
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