3 ms·

The problem I see in trying to understand REST is that everyone is always trying to explain what it is whereas simply SHOWING what it is would seem so much easi

by pbreit 6y ago

The problem I see in trying to understand REST is that everyone is always trying to explain what it is whereas simply SHOWING what it is would seem so much easier and effective. Show me a REST API! Better, take a popular API and show me how it would be as REST.

alasdair_ 6y ago
> Show me a REST API! https://petstore.swagger.io/ https://petstore.swagger.io/ is an example. Quite a few companies use a similar format to document their public APIs.
- jonahx 6y ago
  Where is the media type definition? Where is the single entry endpoint or the response links driving application state?
  - BadInformatics 6y ago
    `uploadImage`, `createWithArray` and `createWithList` also read suspiciously like RPC endpoint names. Not that one should depend on such URLs having meaning in a REST system, but this is arguably more egregious than the SocialSite API (http://web.archive.org/web/20090123123719/http://wikis.glassfish.org/socialsite/Wiki.jsp?page=FinalizeRESTAPI http://web.archive.org/web/20090123123719/http://wikis.glass...) that Roy Fielding was tearing into in the blog post linked upthread.
- sunaurus 6y ago
  This is an excellent example of how the word "REST" in its common use tells you absolutely nothing about an API. This API certainly does not look like a Fielding-REST-API, and it doesn't even look like a programming-blog-REST-API (in my experience, bloggers just like to use "REST" to mean "HTTP + JSON + no RPC"). Why can't we just call this an "HTTP API"?
ratww 6y ago
Some classic examples are AtomPub [1] and OData [2]. [1] https://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023/ https://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Data_Protocol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Data_Protocol
bmn__ 6y ago
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529260 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529260 chapter 9.2.3 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596805838 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596805838 chapter 2 http://oreilly.com/catalog/0636920028468 http://oreilly.com/catalog/0636920028468 chapter 5
- throw_m239339 6y ago
  None of these links are specs or reference implementations of what a perfect REST API is. If there is no such thing, then there is no such thing as a REST API. You linked to non normative content, thus opinions. So please link to the REST specification if it exists or the reference implementation of REST.
  - bmn__ 6y ago
    GGP did not ask for specs, reference implementation or perfection. What's the matter, why do attempt to shift his goalposts for me? Edit: I just read your other comments. You just want to have an argument. Bad user, no cookie!
    - throw_m239339 6y ago
      > GGP did not ask for specs, reference implementation or perfection. What's the matter, why do attempt to shift his goalposts for me? Because your bunch of links has nothing to do with the matter at hand. Everybody has an opinion about what REST should be, nobody can come up with an implementation of what a perfect REST API ACTUALLY is. And spare me the ad hominem. That's a cop-out and childish.

by pbreit 6y ago

alasdair_ 6y ago

> Show me a REST API! https://petstore.swagger.io/ https://petstore.swagger.io/ is an example. Quite a few companies use a similar format to document their public APIs.

jonahx 6y ago
Where is the media type definition? Where is the single entry endpoint or the response links driving application state?
- BadInformatics 6y ago
  `uploadImage`, `createWithArray` and `createWithList` also read suspiciously like RPC endpoint names. Not that one should depend on such URLs having meaning in a REST system, but this is arguably more egregious than the SocialSite API (http://web.archive.org/web/20090123123719/http://wikis.glassfish.org/socialsite/Wiki.jsp?page=FinalizeRESTAPI http://web.archive.org/web/20090123123719/http://wikis.glass...) that Roy Fielding was tearing into in the blog post linked upthread.
sunaurus 6y ago
This is an excellent example of how the word "REST" in its common use tells you absolutely nothing about an API. This API certainly does not look like a Fielding-REST-API, and it doesn't even look like a programming-blog-REST-API (in my experience, bloggers just like to use "REST" to mean "HTTP + JSON + no RPC"). Why can't we just call this an "HTTP API"?

ratww 6y ago

Some classic examples are AtomPub [1] and OData [2]. [1] https://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023/ https://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Data_Protocol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Data_Protocol

bmn__ 6y ago

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529260 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529260 chapter 9.2.3 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596805838 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596805838 chapter 2 http://oreilly.com/catalog/0636920028468 http://oreilly.com/catalog/0636920028468 chapter 5

throw_m239339 6y ago
None of these links are specs or reference implementations of what a perfect REST API is. If there is no such thing, then there is no such thing as a REST API. You linked to non normative content, thus opinions. So please link to the REST specification if it exists or the reference implementation of REST.
- bmn__ 6y ago
  GGP did not ask for specs, reference implementation or perfection. What's the matter, why do attempt to shift his goalposts for me? Edit: I just read your other comments. You just want to have an argument. Bad user, no cookie!
  - throw_m239339 6y ago
    > GGP did not ask for specs, reference implementation or perfection. What's the matter, why do attempt to shift his goalposts for me? Because your bunch of links has nothing to do with the matter at hand. Everybody has an opinion about what REST should be, nobody can come up with an implementation of what a perfect REST API ACTUALLY is. And spare me the ad hominem. That's a cop-out and childish.