Resource-oriented Architecture - The World of Representations

The World of Representations

Humans live in the world of representations. Representation, as a concept, is an attempt (arguably futile) to reach certain acceptable level of objectivity.

For example, if a person wants to buy a house, that person needs to qualify for a mortgage. If that person explains to the mortgage broker that he has $50,000.00 cash available for the down payment toward purchasing the house, the broker will not go ahead and approve the mortgage, even though the quoted amount would be fully satisfactory. What the mortgage broker needs is a more objective argument that would reassure the issuer that the party asking for the mortgage does indeed have enough money for the down payment.

But how is the issuer to go about obtaining the more objective proof? Certainly not by going directly into the applicant's safety vault and counting the money deposited there. Instead, the issuer is simply expecting to receive a representation of that person's balance in his bank account.

That representation projects a sufficient illusion of objectivity, so that the involved parties could sufficiently relax and that the business transaction can eventually take place.

In the same manner, any transaction that transpires on the web is based on the similar representational logic. The actual resource is never being touched. Instead, various representations of the said resource are being prepared, rendered, and shipped to the clients for consumption. Same as in the real world, where the mortgage issuer will never actually touch client's money, but will instead be satisfied with a mere piece of paper representing the balance, resources on the web never get to be directly manipulated by the clients.