Copyright 1995 INIST-CNRS CC BY 4.0 Sauf mention contraire ci-dessus, le contenu de cette notice bibliographique peut être utilisé dans le cadre d’une licence CC BY 4.0 Inist-CNRS / Unless otherwise stated above, the content of this bibliographic record may be used under a CC BY 4.0 licence by Inist-CNRS / A menos que se haya señalado antes, el contenido de este registro bibliográfico puede ser utilizado al amparo de una licencia CC BY 4.0 Inist-CNRS
Notes:
Sciences of information and communication. Documentation
FRANCIS
Accession Number:
edscal.3708974
Database:
PASCAL Archive
Weitere Informationen
The Z39.50 standard for client/server architecture is exciting to information professionals for its promise of interconnectivity, which will make connections between widely dispersed systems and information sources easier. In order for this miracle of interconnectivity to occur, the interface (or client) must be interoperable with the engine (or server) ; that is, each part of the system should know how to operate with the other. From the user's standpoint, interoperability is what the standard is all about ― isn'it it? Interestingly, the answer is' no' : there are many aspects of the standard which are undefined, multiplydefined or optional. This means that a Z39.50 client and server will only interoperate if they agree which parts of the standard to implement, and how. And even in areas of the standard where there are definite technical rules for interoperability there is still often nothing which mandates the form that interoperability will take. For example, a client might send heart attack, meaning heart adj attack, but the server might legitimately (within the standard) interpret that as heart and attack. The server sends the user some documents and the session proceeds just fine ― but users may not be getting what they think they're getting out of it. This paper will discuss some of the specific of the Z39.50 standard , with emphasis on how they impact the evaluation of Z39.50 services. Understanding the strengths and limitations of the standard will makes the road to interoperability smoother for all.
