Women in Technology

Article:		The REST of the Web
Subject:		this is not REST
Date:		2005-04-28 16:44:58
From:		jrbriggs
Response to: this is not REST
Using XmlHttpRequest means using javascript (& if you're supporting a wide variety of browsers, also probably means browser detection, etc). I'm trying to support the lowest common denominator which means that due to various browser constraints I'm limiting what I can use -- in addition I to keep things as simple as possible Developing web services is a different matter. I can afford to be stricter about how the protocols are handled and let the client (for example, an XmlHttpRequest from a browser) deal with the interaction as best it can. But in this case, my intent is a simplified web app, so it's "a best-attempt", rather than "the best attempt". Hope that clarifies things somewhat.

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

• this is not REST
  2005-04-29 05:56:13  nferrier [View]
  
  
  "keep things as simple as possible"
  
  simple where? you're servlet now has a facade to allow you to pretend that it is a RESTfull interface. It isn't a RESTfull interface, it is REST + some pollution.
  
  sarissa (which I mentioned in my first note) is cross browser support for XmlHttpRequest so you don't need browser detection. Ok, you'd still be excluding lynx|links but were you including those anyway?
  
  Complicating the client side a little is preferred in REST, the view being that life is complicated enough on the server already.
  
  And you're article is titled "the REST of the web".
• this is not REST
  2005-04-29 20:32:32  jrbriggs [View]
  
  
  Well, we'll have to agree to disagree, if you think that using javascript with sarissa is simpler than a standard html form. I don't
  see the use of a POSTed parameter, to subvert the http method at the server side, polluting the code as much as you seem to -- at least it's not setting an action directly within a URI (as Prescod notes in his Common Rest Mistakes).
  
  Do you have a reference discussing why client side complication is preferred for REST applications, because I've never come across anything with that recommendation. I'd certainly be interested in reading it.
• this is not REST
  2005-04-30 14:27:51  nferrier [View]
  
  
  Roy Fielding's paper on architecture and REST:
  
  http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm