Subject: WWW developments

From: tj ODonnell <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 13:55:42 -0500 (CDT)

Hi all,

Just some thoughts on Java and "standard" applets, especially
regarding on-demand downloading vs. plug-ins,etc.  Maybe we need some
sort of smart cacheing of applets.

Currently, if one requests a doc that is in your disk cache,
the cache is accessed, even if the doc has changed.  In other words,
if the requested doc has the same URL as one already in cache,
the cached version is used regardless of the changes to the "real"
doc.  I suppose the same sort of cache is (or could be) used with
applets, but what we really want to know is whether the CONTENT
of a requested applet is identical to the content of one in cache,
regardless of the name (URL) of the applet.  To do an exhaustive
comparison, we'd have to get the remote applet anyway, so this is
not a viable alternative.  What I'm suggesting is some unique
way of identifying an applet, independent of its URL.
For example, a new type of HTML tag with a value like Chime-applet-v1.0b,
or pdb-viewer-applet-v2.4, AND a smarter netscape which would handle this
type of cacheing mechanism.  Then, if an applet with the same tag
exists in my cache, I use it, regardless of the URL source from which
it is requested.

TJ
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| Dr. TJ O'Donnell  > [email-masked] <  http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~tj/ |
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