Stu Charlton responds to my comment (and Mark’s) about how Pat Helland did things the hard way in discovering REST in a recent paper of his;
So, while the two Marks are suggesting Pat’s reached REST the hard way, I would suggest this is something he’s been saying for years, […]
That is the hard way! 8-O If Pat’s been unknowingly preaching REST constraints for years, then he’s done it from scratch. That’s a great personal accomplishment of course; I wish I were that smart. But wouldn’t it have been great if he had noticed that what he was talking about was being built out right under his nose for the past 15 years? 8-) I don’t fault him for that any more than I fault the bulk of the industry for also missing it (which is to say, a tiny bit 8-).
Anyhow, hopefully this paper can be the catalyst that helps push the industry towards a better understanding of the power and value of the Web. Of course, it also brings a new perspective to bear on the Web itself, from a seasoned distributed computing veteran, so that can only help Web proponents, perhaps motivating new Web based solutions. At the very least, they’ve got me thinking, which is always good 8-)
Well yes, it would have been nice to have noticed, but who would honestly think distributed architecture for hypermedia has anything to say about transaction processing architecture? I mean, I’m still kicking myself, looking back on old posts of mine kicking myself about missing the link….
I did! 8-)
But that’s not entirely true; it took me two years after beginning to study the Web to come to that realization. I felt really stupid at the time, but the fact that the bulk of the industry still doesn’t realize it comforts me somewhat. 8-)