On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 7:35 AM, Alexander Johannesen < [email protected]> wrote: > In fact for me, REST eradicates > most needs for middleware, and I suspect this might be why some push > REST back into middleware (either through staying alive or lack of > understanding), but that's just pure speculation.
Indeed. All the middleware you need for REST is already built into the web: web servers, caches, proxies, and client http libraries. The rest (npi) is the application. If middleware vendors want to be useful in a REST world, they should work on improving the ease of use and efficiency of web servers, caches, proxies and client http libraries instead of foisting huge chunks of software on top of or in between web elements. I've pointed this out elsewhere<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/rest-discuss/message/13336>: The difference in mindset between the RESTafarian and middlewareite camps is fundamentally the same difference in mindset between dumb network and smart network camps. Since the end-to-end debate has raged on for over 25 years, I see no reason why the derivative REST-KISS vs MIDDLEWARE-LIO (lard it on) shouldn't keep us entertained for just as long. -- Nick [Just discovered that I never sent this draft!]
