2007/05/01
I’m absolutely thrilled that Tim has finally grokked REST. AFAIK, he’s the first die-hard Web services type with a strong public persona to realize REST’s (and the Web’s, of course) benefits over WS/SOA/RPC. Bravo, Tim!
I’ve long thought that what was needed in this discussion was new perspectives on the relationship between REST and WS/RPC/etc… that would permit the message to reach more people. Tim’s ably doing his part along those lines with his followup posts. I would never have thought to describe things this way.
So, who’s next?
Hi Mark,
I have few basic questions about REST.
1) How REST can be useful in non-browser based application ?
2) How can someone discover REST web services, since REST doesn’t have anything like WSDL(WSDL is an XML grammar for specifying a public interface for a Web service) and UDDI, which is for SOAP.
Thanks,
Hi Pankaj,
1. Quite easily 8-) As a simple example, one can give both an order and an invoice http URIs, and GET can be used to retrieve them. Also, the invoice can include the URI of the order.
2. REST based services on the Web are discovered when their URIs are discovered. Because all resources have the same interface, as soon as you have the http URI you know its interface and can therefore use it immediately. WSDL is useful when your services expose different interfaces, so that they can each describe their specific interface. Again, RESTful services all have the same interface so therefore you don’t need a way to describe differences.
And the thrill turns to sour cream.
Watch out and you will get a uniform response soon enough: there is no silver bullet.
That includes REST.
And obsessions in meta-higher-order rants and delusions.