I am getting frustrated by the number of people calling any HTTP-based interface a REST API.
Those words come from the man who put REST on the map, one Roy Fielding in a bit of a rant against what people call REST today. The post is worth reading for anyone who is into the REST architecture (or isn’t).
Also wanted to point to a couple of responses to Roy’s post. Sam Ruby, who co-authored the book that exposes most of us to REST, is amused by people’s attempts to try and figure out what Roy is saying.
You have to read Leigh Dodd’s post as he channels WALL-E to present his understanding of REST.
Me, I am still trying to get my head around Roy’s post (his writing style isn’t exactly one that lends itself to easy understanding). The one thing that’s clear is this part
if the engine of application state (and hence the API) is not being driven by hypertext, then it cannot be RESTful and cannot be a REST API
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2 Comments
Eeekk … reading Roy's post hasn't made me much clearer on whether I've abused the term in the past, but it's likely that I have at some point.
“I suspect a lot of people get it wrong because they read only the Wikipedia entry on the subject, which is not based on authoritative sources.” <- .. that's me, after spending some time reading Roy's dissertation, I fell back on the more accessible Wikipedia version.
Eeekk … reading Roy's post hasn't made me much clearer on whether I've abused the term in the past, but it's likely that I have at some point.
“I suspect a lot of people get it wrong because they read only the Wikipedia entry on the subject, which is not based on authoritative sources.” – RF. <- .. that's me, after spending some time reading Roy's dissertation, I fell back on the more accessible Wikipedia version.