On 5/4/2010 11:11 PM, Casey Ransberger wrote:
> Are you intent on replacing HTTPSocket in the long run? I have an
> RPC-ish thing that uses it, so I'd like to be clear on whether I can
> expect it to be around for the next release.

In the long run: Yes. In the next release: No. And "replacing" can mean 
that the public interface in HTTPSocket remains. That's what the 
WebClient-HTTP package does. It patches HTTPSocket to use WebClient 
while preserving the identical external interface.

At this point, I'd just like people to try it out. Since you're doing 
RPCish stuff, this sounds like just the thing WebClient and WebServer 
were specifically designed for, so you might give it a shot. I think 
you'll quickly learn to see the advantage of WebClient over HTTPSocket :-)

Cheers,
   - Andreas

> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 10:14 PM, Andreas Raab <andreas.raab at gmx.de
> <mailto:andreas.raab at gmx.de>> wrote:
>
>     Folks -
>
>     I'm happy to announce the release of WebClient and WebServer 1.0 for
>     Squeak 4.1. I started this little side project about half a year ago
>     when I realized that I had just written the third
>     almost-but-not-quite complete HTTP server implementation internally.
>     The thing is, HTTP servers and clients are tremendously useful.
>     Having a small and compact implementation offers all sorts of
>     interesting uses. For example, we use HTTP as command and control
>     interface for various backend server aspects; be that generating
>     status XML for processing by a front-end php app, or profiling of
>     the live application, or RTSP handling, or server-to-server
>     communication. Given all these interesting simple applications I
>     figured it was about time to write a *simple* general purpose HTTP
>     server (yes, I'm looking at you Kom).
>
>     While writing it I quickly noticed that I need an accompanying
>     client since HTTPSocket was just too awful for testing. It's
>     incomplete, inconsistent and broken in lots of interesting ways. The
>     good thing is that since both client and server share much of the
>     representation, the overhead is very small.
>
>     As a result, we now have what I think is a pretty decent HTTP server
>     and client implementation for Squeak 4.1 and hopefully we can nuke
>     HTTPSocket sometime soon. WebClient is superior in *every* respect.
>
>     Oh, one word about the name: HTTPxxx is taken, HttpXxxx is taken, so
>     I was left with the choice of either going for HtTpClient /
>     HtTpServer, or WebClient / WebServer. The name's a little broad,
>     granted, but better than mixed caps :-)
>
>      >From the project page (http://www.squeaksource.com/WebClient):
>
>     -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     Project Description
>     WebClient and WebServer are simple, compact, and easy to use HTTP
>     client and server implementations.
>
>     Installation
>     To install WebClient and WebServer, execute the following from a
>     Workspace in Squeak:
>
>     (Installer ss project: 'WebClient')
>             install: 'WebClient-Core';
>             install: 'WebClient-Tests';
>             install: 'WebClient-Help'.
>
>     In addition to the core functionality, a set of patches is provided
>     by the 'WebClient-HTTP' package replacing HTTPSocket by WebClient
>     (which means WebClient will be used for Monticello, updates etc):
>
>     (Installer ss project: 'WebClient')
>             install: 'WebClient-HTTP';
>
>     An experimental Seaside 3.0 adapter for WebServer is available in
>     the 'WebClient-Seaside' package:
>
>     (Installer ss project: 'WebClient')
>             install: 'WebClient-Seaside';
>
>     Help is provided via HelpSystem but make sure you also look at the
>     example in class WebClient and WebServer itself.
>
>     -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     Cheers,
>       - Andreas
>
>
>
>
> --
> Casey Ransberger
>
>
>
>