users@jersey.java.net

Re: [Jersey] RESTful Ordering (was: JAX-RS == REST? Or not? (was Re: [Jersey] What HATEOAS actually means))

From: Tatu Saloranta <tsaloranta_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:07:10 -0800

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 12:09 AM, Markus Karg <markus.karg_at_gmx.net> wrote:

> Anyways, their storing of carts content of their servers was a business
> decision, not a technical one. ;-)
>
>
Agreed. But I think it is an interesting case to consider -- I am sure that
persistency (and thus statefulness) of resources is a must for many systems.
And that it is necessary to separate resource state with session/transaction
state. I don't think REST would preclude former, but at this point I would
not be entirely surprised to be convinced otherwise. :-)

Actually come to think of that, I can see why someone might think of
shopping cart as conversation state... and others as more of a resource. I
guess that is modeling choice really.
And also a practical thing: if it is part of conversation, you can have
multiple concurrent sessions (open a new browser window, get a different
cart); or just a single shared one per account.

FWIW, for retailers like Amazon this is obviously a must feature; not just
shopping cart but wish lists and such. Although it is good to get immediate
sales, probability of a later purchase is probably high (I don't know the
ratio, nor could divulge if I did -- this is just inferred from public
information :) ).

-+ Tatu +-