[Info-vax] Using VMS for a web server

[Dirk Munk]

Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> Dirk Munk skrev den 2015-06-07 10:14:
>> Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>>>
>>> ps/btw/fwiw: for those pondering the available implementations and
>>> the compatibility of web browsers and of web servers, there are some
>>> HTTP changes underway, with HTTP/2:
>>>
>>> http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000545/ch12.html
>>>
>>
>> Thanks for pointing us at that page. I had been reading about this a few
>> weeks ago, and this is a big improvement indeed. I had been thinking
>> about something like that for years, in very vague terms that is. It
>> always appeared to me how very inefficient HTTP is in transmitting a web
>> page. For every item on the page a new connection is made, a waste of
>> resources, and very time consuming. I always wondered if it wouldn't
>> been possible to zip the whole page at the server and send it in one
>> stream. It seems the push mechanism og HTTP/2 is doing something
>> similar, inspecting the page for links to other objects, and including
>> those objects in the stream before the client asks for them.
>>
>
> Here is another page that clears up some points:
>
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/2886381/internet/seven-no-bull-facts-about-the-new-http-2-protocol.html
>
>
> And here is what the WASD maintainer says about it:
>
>> HTTP/2
>>
>> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP/2
>>
>> has recently moved from draft to published IETF RFC 7540
>>
>> https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7540
>>
>> Not without its critics, it does look like becoming the next
>> instantiation ofthe Web protocol" and so deserves attention.
>>
>> A WASD implementation actively is being pursued (though at a very early
>> stage) and if runs to completion would constitute WASD v11.  However the
>> protocol and associated header compression RFC are non-trivial and the
>> developmental timeline probably puts any release somewhere in late
>> 2016.I looked at its progenitor development, SPDY, a couple of years
>> ago but understandably was unprepared to put in the effort on an
>> "experiment". Whether or not the average WASD site will benefit from
>> HTTP/2 is moot as it doesn't fundamentally change the underlying
>> semantics of HTTP/1.1 (it could be thought of as "wrapper" of sorts) and
>> is targeted at reducing perceived networking bottlenecks in the
>> client-server relationship.
>>
>> Cheers...

Thanks Jan-Eri, I found that quote on the WASD mail list.

I downloaded all the pdf manuals of WASD, 530 pages of excellent VMS 
style manuals. That in itself shows the quality of the product.

It convinces me even more that WASD should be in the VMS distribution kit.