Joe Gregorio
A lot of what it boils down to for me is that independently-declared and strongly-typed interfaces are a good thing. [Emphasis mine.]
Sorry, you lost me right there.
Here's the full article if you don't understand the image.
If you can find me, 'at my word', where I say, "all you need to know is HTTP/1.1", then I'll buy you a drink.
What I wanted to talk about today was strong typing, I'll address the flow/interaction issue in a later post.
And of course, the real world is much more complex than the Flickr API.
I'm not sure where you live, but Flickr is in my 'real world'.
I will concede that there are services that are more complex, but WSDL/XML-Schema is brittle in the face of that complexity, just ask Nelson.
Posted by joe on 2007-05-31
Posted by Patrick Mueller on 2007-05-31
I want to believe. I swear, I do. Help me!
Consider an API as complex as the Flickr API. How do you "do this in REST" without somehow describing the structure of some of the data returned? For example, take the structure returned from the flickr.people.getInfo api.
If I was to take you and Mark Baker at your word, the documentation provided by the Flickr API site wouldn't be required, since "all you need to know is HTTP/1.1".
I'm not buying it.
And of course, the real world is much more complex than the Flickr API. Ratchet the complexity of the returned data up a factor or two.
Or, cutting closer to the bone, why bother having an APP spec, when it's, after all, just REST (well, I assume it's RESTy ~smile~). Shouldn't need a spec, should we?
Posted by Patrick Mueller on 2007-05-31