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> I don't think that's possible. I've officially banned the word "REST" from being used in technical discussions. I've been a software engineer for decades and

> I don't think that's possible. I've officially banned the word "REST" from being used in technical discussions. I've been a software engineer for decades and I am helping a company move from SOAP-based XML services into a more coherent REST-type architecture. Why would this be a banned technical discussion?

deaddodo 5y ago
I think their point is that REST means nothing beyond “uses HTTP verbs” these days. Most companies/teams can’t even agree on the differences between POST, PUT and PATCH; let alone status codes, payload structure, authentication, etc. So using the term REST will mean something different to every person using it. Similar to how a Ruby, PHP and Python engineer will envision a different architecture if you tell them to build a “backend”.
- slver 5y ago
  > I think their point is that REST means nothing beyond “uses HTTP verbs” Funny thing is that this means HTML pages also aren't restful, because they stick to GET and POST.
  - deaddodo 5y ago
    HTML (/browsers) have agreed upon payloads, status codes and authentication. The lack of PUT/DELETE/etc is more a function of use cases than the HTTP/HTML standard and there are plenty of example servers that are fully RESTful. That was also the original use case of web browsers (as a document-store/multimedia+hyperlink-enhanced FTP).
- bewo001 5y ago
  They call REST anything that uses JSON over HTTP nowadays. What I don't get, when they don't know or don't want to do REST, why they are not just calling their API JSON/HTTP?
  - mixmastamyk 5y ago
    Say the two phrases out loud and the reason becomes obvious. The second doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
    - ajuc 5y ago
      JSON API would be my preferred name.
      - mixmastamyk 5y ago
        I suppose but json is the least important part of the “spec.”
      - graftak 5y ago
        Somehow someone thought it’s a good idea to name a spec JSON:API[1] which is a ton of fun in search engines. The spec itself is quite alright though and it makes requests rather predictable. https://jsonapi.org/ https://jsonapi.org/

deaddodo 5y ago

I think their point is that REST means nothing beyond “uses HTTP verbs” these days. Most companies/teams can’t even agree on the differences between POST, PUT and PATCH; let alone status codes, payload structure, authentication, etc. So using the term REST will mean something different to every person using it. Similar to how a Ruby, PHP and Python engineer will envision a different architecture if you tell them to build a “backend”.

slver 5y ago
> I think their point is that REST means nothing beyond “uses HTTP verbs” Funny thing is that this means HTML pages also aren't restful, because they stick to GET and POST.
- deaddodo 5y ago
  HTML (/browsers) have agreed upon payloads, status codes and authentication. The lack of PUT/DELETE/etc is more a function of use cases than the HTTP/HTML standard and there are plenty of example servers that are fully RESTful. That was also the original use case of web browsers (as a document-store/multimedia+hyperlink-enhanced FTP).
bewo001 5y ago
They call REST anything that uses JSON over HTTP nowadays. What I don't get, when they don't know or don't want to do REST, why they are not just calling their API JSON/HTTP?
- mixmastamyk 5y ago
  Say the two phrases out loud and the reason becomes obvious. The second doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
  - ajuc 5y ago
    JSON API would be my preferred name.
    - mixmastamyk 5y ago
      I suppose but json is the least important part of the “spec.”
    - graftak 5y ago
      Somehow someone thought it’s a good idea to name a spec JSON:API[1] which is a ton of fun in search engines. The spec itself is quite alright though and it makes requests rather predictable. https://jsonapi.org/ https://jsonapi.org/