-<!-- $Id: introduction.xml,v 1.11 2003-02-23 14:25:34 adam Exp $ -->
+<!-- $Id: introduction.xml,v 1.19 2005-06-27 22:03:59 adam Exp $ -->
<chapter id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
<para>
&yaz; is a C/C++ library for information retrieval applications
- using the Z39.50/SRW protocols for information retrieval.
+ using the Z39.50/SRW/SRU protocols for information retrieval.
</para>
-
+
<para>
Properties of &yaz;:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
- Fast operation. The C based BER encoders/decoders as well
- as the server component of &yaz; is very fast.
- </para></listitem>
- <listitem><para>
Complete
<ulink url="http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/">Z39.50</ulink>
- version 3 support. All newer extensions
- including Z39.50-2000 have been incorporated.
+ version 3 support. Amendments and Z39.50-2002 revision is
+ supported.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Supports
- <ulink url="http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw/">SRW</ulink>
- version 1.0 (over HTTP and HTTPS).
+ <ulink url="http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw/">SRW/SRU</ulink>
+ version 1.1 (over HTTP and HTTPS).
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Includes BER encoders/decoders for the
on Windows using Microsoft Visual C++.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
+ Fast operation. The C based BER encoders/decoders as well
+ as the server component of &yaz; is very fast.
+ </para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>
Liberal license that allows for commercial use of &yaz;.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <para>
<xref linkend="zoom"/> describes the ZOOM API of &yaz;.
This is definitely worth a read if you wish to develop a Z39.50/SRW
client.
</para>
</listitem>
-
+
<listitem>
<para>
- <xref linkend="zoom"/> describes the generic frontend server
+ <xref linkend="server"/> describes the generic frontend server
and explains how to develop server Z39.50/SRW applications for &yaz;.
Obviously worth reading if you're to develop a server.
</para>
<para>
<xref linkend="tools"/> contains sections for the various
tools offered by &yaz;. Scan through the material quickly
- and see what's relevant to you! SRW implementors
+ and see what's relevant to you! SRW/SRU implementors
might find the <link linkend="tools.cql">CQL</link> section
particularly useful.
</para>
<para>
<xref linkend="odr"/> goes through the details of the
ODR module which is the work horse that encodes and decodes
- BER packages. Implementors using ZOOM only do not need reading this.
+ BER packages. Implementors using ZOOM only, do <emphasis>not</emphasis>
+ need reading this.
Most other Z39.50 implementors only need to read the first two
- sections <link linkend="odr.introduction">Introduction</link>,
- <link linkend="odr.use">Using ODR</link>.
+ sections (<xref linkend="odr.introduction"/> and
+ <xref linkend="odr.use"/>).
</para>
</listitem>
you're going to develop an ILL application you'll have to learn the lower
level APIs of &yaz;.
</para>
-
-
<para>
The YAZ toolkit modules is shown in figure <xref linkend="yaz.layer"/>.
</para>
<para>
If you are using the premade definitions of the &asn; module, and you
are not adding new protocol of your own, the only parts of &odr; that you
- need to worry about are documented in section
- <link linkend="odr-use">Using ODR</link>.
+ need to worry about are documented in
+ <xref linkend="odr.use"/>.
</para>
</note>