Word of the Day : XML pipeline

XML pipeline

An XML pipeline is a formalized, logical expression of the method by which an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document is handled. An XML pipeline is rendered as a series of operations over an XML infoset, which is a collection of information items about the document's characters, attributes and namespaces, collectively called elements.

XML documents enter a pipeline and are processed by the operations. The documents are then output for display, storage or further processing. An XML pipeline can specify operations such as:

• Making a verbatim copy of a file
• Renaming a file
• Altering specific elements in a file.
• Resequencing the order in which elements in a file appear.
• Inserting new elements in a file.
• Deleting specific elements from a file.
• Surrounding (or wrapping) specific elements with additional elements.
• Splitting a file into multiple files.
• Merging (or aggregating) two or more files into a single file.

Word of the Day : Vouch by Reference (VBR)

Vouch by Reference (VBR)

Vouch by Reference (VBR) is an e-mail header tagging mechanism whereby senders can list third parties, known as domain certification services, that will attest to their integrity and good standing in the Internet community. When a sender includes a vouch-by-reference (VBR) list in an e-mail header, recipients (or intermediate servers) can look up VBR vouchers through the domain name service (DNS), to determine whether trusted third parties find the sender to be reputable. VBR makes it possible to bypass spam filtering, assuming that the recipient is willing to take the word of the voucher that the sender is legitimate.

Vouch by reference uses the domain name in the sender's e-mail address (the part that follows the "at symbol") to determine the sender's domain of origin. To avoid spoofing or prevent forgery, VBR relies upon sender authentication schemes such as DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) or Sender ID to prove that claimed identity and actual identity match.

Word of the Day : Open Grid Services Architecture

Open Grid Services Architecture

Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) is a set of standards defining the way in which information is shared among diverse components of large, heterogeneous grid systems. In this context, a grid system is a scalable wide area network (WAN) that supports resource sharing and distribution. OGSA is a trademark of the Open Grid Forum.

OGSA definitions and criteria apply to hardware, platforms and software in standards-based grid computing. The OGSA is, in effect, an extension and refinement of the service-oriented architecture (SOA). The OGSA addresses ongoing issues and challenges such as authentication, authorization, policy negotiation and enforcement, administration of service-level agreements, management of virtual organizations and customer data integration.

For a Web service to be considered a grid service, it must allow clients to easily discover, update, modify and delete information about the service's state, define how the service evolves and ensure ongoing compatibility with other services. The goal is to optimize communication and interoperability among resources of all types.

Word of the Day: JSON (Javascript Object Notation)

JSON (Javascript Object Notation)

JSON (Javascript Object Notation) is a text-based, human-readable data interchange format used for representing simple data structures and objects in Web browser-based code. JSON is also sometimes used in desktop and server-side programming environments. JSON was originally based on the JavaScript programming language and was introduced as the page scripting language for the Netscape Navigator Web browser.

JSON is used in Javascript on the Internet as an alternative to XML for organizing data. Like XML, JSON is language-independent and may be combined with C++, Java, Python, LISP and many other languages. Unlike XML, however, JSON is simply a way to represent data structures, as opposed to a full markup language. JSON documents are relatively lightweight and are rapidly executed on Web server.

JSON consists of "name : object" pairs and punctuation in the form of brackets, parentheses, semi-colons and colons. Each object is defined with an operator like "text :" or "image :" and then grouped with a value for that operator. As a result of this simple structure and absence of mathematical notation or algorithms, JSON is easy to understand and quickly mastered, even by users with limited formal programming experience, which has spurred adoption of the format as a quick, approachable way to create interactive pages.

Novice users of JSON need to be aware of potential security implications. As JSON scripts automatically execute in any Web page that's requested by a Web browser, they can be used to implement JavaScript insertion attacks against a Web client, like a command injection or cross-site scripting. For example, if a hacker inserts non-JSON code into the string, like a Trojan horse, the targeted algorithm executes the text in as if it were Javascript and then returns the value of the last statement. If the only statement was a JSON value, there's no effect. If a previous statement contains other Javascript code, however, that code will be executed by the script. The hacker might then have access to all the variables a script has access to, potentially compromising a user's PC.