Fresh out of the box, COAP draft is available since ahem… a couple of hours (self-pride for my timing as you can notice). This is definitely for me, us, and you all a definite pace for mankind – a solid and viable proof that the WoT is coming, and a very nice Christmas present.
What is COAP I hear you saying? From the draft:
The use of web services on the Internet has become ubiquitous in most applications, and depends on the basic REST architecture of the web. The proposed Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE) working group aims at extending the REST architecture to a suitable form for the most constrained nodes (e.g. 8-bit microcontrollers with limited RAM and ROM) and networks (e.g. 6LoWPAN). One of the main goals of CoRE is to design a generic RESTful protocol for the special requirements of this constrained environment, especially considering energy and building automation applications. The result of this work should be a Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) which easily traslates to HTTP for integration with the web while meeting specialized requirements such as multicast support, very low overhead and simplicity.
I can’t wait to read it, as it’s definitely what we’ve been pushing since we started WoT: show that REST is indeed a viable protocol for constrained devices. We’re glad to see this great milestone rolling out, and we’re glad we’re here to make WoT a reality.Next step: turn it into a RFC! Maybe now, our papers will finally be better understood and not rejected on the basis “REST is not good for sensor networks”. Yay!
Oh, our WoT team wishes you all a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2010! Thanks folks for all your support, encouragements, comments and emails, and we’re confident in saying that 2010 will be the WoT year! Keep up the good work, and looking forward for even more fruitful collaborations with you!!!
