A conversation is the communication mechanism between two transaction programs. The conversation may appear different to each transaction program. Although the appearance of the conversation differs, the views are complementary. For example, one conversation partner on a half-duplex conversation would be receiving while the other partner is sending. The appearance of a conversation for a transaction program is described by the state in which the conversation exists for that transaction program. Whenever the term conversation state is used in this publication, it refers to the local view of the conversation.