On Friday, April 13, 2007, at 04:03PM, "Stefan Tilkov" <stefan.tilkov_at_innoq.com> wrote:
[..] When I
>use it, I'm referring to the RESTful Web API an application exposes -
>e.g. I would call the Google Calendar Data API a "REST API". I would
>say every WADL file describes a Web API, and if it follows REST's
>constraints (is RESTful), a Web API is a REST API.
I consider HTTP to be a REST API and I am having trouble to see
what a 'Web API' is (in a REST context). From a strict POV, all you get
to do when you do not want to break REST's constraints is to make use of HTTP
and of (standardized media types). All 'API-like semantics' have to be dealt with
in the MIME type (defined as standardizations of state transition semantics, e.g.
APP's edit-media link rel).
If you have a service that needs exposure of some *DL for the client to understand it,
you break REST.
>
>So I agree we're not trying to build a REST API. We're trying to
>produce an API "that makes it easy to build RESTful services",
Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but isn't this
purely about HTTP? About making it easy to build HTTP-based
services?
If not, what other REST-architecture besides HTTP do people have
in mind (IMO it is rather unlikely that we will ever see one :-)[1]
(Maybe) confused,
Jan
[1] Besides WAKA, so there might be a point in staying generic.
which
>in my words translates to "that makes it easy to build REST APIs".
>
>But I can stop using this term if it causes misunderstandings ;-)
>
>Stefan
>--
>Stefan Tilkov, http://www.innoq.com/blog/st/
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