dev@jsr311.java.net

RE: Title change to JAX-RS

From: Jerome Louvel <jerome.louvel_at_noelios.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:55:05 +0200

Marc,

> > I am wondering was is the purpose of this change, especially
> > considering
> > that "JAX" is reserved for "Java API for XML". I thought we agreed
> > on the
> > fact that this API was not XML-centric.
> >
> We do, the X is "silent".

But if you go to:
http://java.sun.com/xml/

You'll see:
 - Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB)
 - Java API for XML Processing (JAXP)
 - Java API for XML Registries (JAXR)
 - Java API for XML-based RPC (JAX-RPC)

IMO, this JAX prefix will lead to confusion and assumption from new users
that REST usage necessarily implies XML, which we all agree isn't true.

> This was another change demanded by ASF, they felt it was import for
> the API to have a short snappy title that didn't avoided any direct
> reference to REST so that, in discussion, the two things (the
> API and the architectural style) would be easy to distinguish. My
> preference was for JAR-WS but others thought JAX-RS was better even
> though the X is meaningless.

JAR-WS is a closer match for "Java API for RESTful Web Services" but is a
bit ambiguous with the JAR (Java ARchive) acronym...

Is it too late to commit to something like javax.net.rws?

> > Also, the package name mentioned in the JSR page is still
> > javax.ws.rest.
> > Could we update it to the expected one?
> >
> Yes, that should have happened at the same time the title was
> changed
> but I guess it was missed when the JCP PMO made the edit.

Understood.

Best regards,
Jerome