Jan Algermissen wrote: > Umm...what is the issue here? Are you suggesting that with WS-* you get > anything like this? Where are all the standardized APIs???? > > You need to do the same standardization effort for both styles and I > claim that defining a media type is a lot easier than defining an API. > > (The design space is smaller, less things to decide).
I think this is where the most friction is recurring in these conversations. No matter hhow you transport information from one point to another, you still have to transport the information. So, deciding to use HTTP and having PUT /some/URL/to/a/resource <resource> ... </resource> vs setValueOfAResource( Resource r ); you have to type enough information into the software, somewhere, that you can represent all of the needed values. With REST, the design space is not smaller for simply transfering messages. It is absolutely the same space, requiring the same information as any other technology, because you have to transfer information to the server and perhaps back to the client. It's the same amount of information right? If you want to say that "the design space is smaller" because an HTTP developer has less standards to consider during design, I'd say that's not a fair statement. The whole MIME-TYPE issue introduces at least the same order of magnitude of knowledge as a programatic/RPC interface would. Maybe you can clarify where smaller is scoped from? Gregg Wonderly
