

All in the name of Pragmatism - hhariri
http://hadihariri.com/2013/06/24/all-in-the-name-of-pragmatism/

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lmm
The whole history of computing is one of redefining words. Really, who cares
if you call it a Unit Test or a Frisbee? You certainly don't have to know the
name to come up with the concept and find it useful.

REST is an unfortunate name for a great movement - unfortunate because the
original "REST" paper was the same kind of overengineered crap that REST-the-
movement was a rebellion against. So now the highly paid consultants are
peddling their overengineered crap and calling it "REST" and on a literal
level they're right. But the solution isn't to argue about what is and isn't
REST - it's to consider the actual behaviours (HTTP verbs, content types,
HATEOAS) on their own merits.

I believe in using HTTP verbs to mean the things they say, but I think HATEOAS
is actively harmful. Am I doing REST? Who cares!

~~~
Chris2048
I always wonder - is there a reason to use HTTP verbs?

It seems to me using POST to request information is better than using GET -
instead of putting a url in the GET request, put it in the body of the POST
(plus anything else you want).

I thing a decent JSON-based approach might be easier than bare http, which
lacks things that might be needed.

~~~
hhariri
If you treat your endpoints as resources, and if you think of the verbs as the
operations you can perform on those resources, then you have a discoverable
interface. IF you limit everything to a single verb, then you have to define a
series of operations...

~~~
Chris2048
But this isn't the only way an interface could be discoverable - what about a
schema (or a good api doc for humans). This way also couples api to
implementation - what if I want different verbs? Suddenly, we stray from the
discoverable path.

