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Articles talking about "REST" and "HATEOAS" really need to define "client". Do they mean a person? Do they mean a web browser? Do they mean an application pe

Articles talking about "REST" and "HATEOAS" really need to define "client". Do they mean a person? Do they mean a web browser? Do they mean an application performing actions autonomously? > A REST client needs little to no prior knowledge about how to interact with an application or server beyond a generic understanding of hypermedia. If in this instance, "REST client" means an application performing actions autonomously, I don't see how this statement could possibly be true. Someone writing a client will need to know how the server is going to return responses to requests. It needs to know what operations the server supports. It really seems like REST and HATEOAS, using the strictest definitions, really just mean server-side HTML rendering, which is nothing new. I figured we swapped to client-side rendering (And therefore, servers sending XML or JSON, and the client handles putting it into the page) to reduce server-side loads and the cost of increased CPU usage client-side.

throwing_away 3y ago
> Articles talking about "REST" and "HATEOAS" really need to define "client". Do they mean a person? Do they mean a web browser? Do they mean an application performing actions autonomously? My understanding is yes, those are all clients. > If in this instance, "REST client" means an application performing actions autonomously, I don't see how this statement could possibly be true. Someone writing a client will need to know how the server is going to return responses to requests. It needs to know what operations the server supports. I think the "generic understanding of hypermedia" is knowing how to follow links, use the HTTP verbs, and interpret the HTTP status codes. I think the idea is that if you know to query your account balance with "GET /accounts/12345" and it offers something in its response that looks like an HTML web form or json containing a link to "/accounts/12345/deposits", you could easily infer that a "POST /accounts/12345/deposits" would be used to make a deposit. How would you know what to POST? Look at the web form and emulate that, or just try it and get a specific error about what fields are missing, ideally with a link to docs. > It really seems like REST and HATEOAS, using the strictest definitions, really just mean server-side HTML rendering, which is nothing new. That's actually htmx, which makes sense you got that vibe, because it is the htmx blog and they are highlighting a way to self-document the API with web forms, but REST is connected to the HTTP verbs and HATEOAS is connected to the payload to make REST discovery more intuitive. As far as I know, nobody really uses this stuff, or at least I haven't seen it in production, but it's been a good idea floating out there for at least 10 years now. If someone made a HATEOAS linter and a Postman extension, in addition to the obvious htmx endorsement, maybe it would gain some traction.

throwing_away 3y ago

> Articles talking about "REST" and "HATEOAS" really need to define "client". Do they mean a person? Do they mean a web browser? Do they mean an application performing actions autonomously? My understanding is yes, those are all clients. > If in this instance, "REST client" means an application performing actions autonomously, I don't see how this statement could possibly be true. Someone writing a client will need to know how the server is going to return responses to requests. It needs to know what operations the server supports. I think the "generic understanding of hypermedia" is knowing how to follow links, use the HTTP verbs, and interpret the HTTP status codes. I think the idea is that if you know to query your account balance with "GET /accounts/12345" and it offers something in its response that looks like an HTML web form or json containing a link to "/accounts/12345/deposits", you could easily infer that a "POST /accounts/12345/deposits" would be used to make a deposit. How would you know what to POST? Look at the web form and emulate that, or just try it and get a specific error about what fields are missing, ideally with a link to docs. > It really seems like REST and HATEOAS, using the strictest definitions, really just mean server-side HTML rendering, which is nothing new. That's actually htmx, which makes sense you got that vibe, because it is the htmx blog and they are highlighting a way to self-document the API with web forms, but REST is connected to the HTTP verbs and HATEOAS is connected to the payload to make REST discovery more intuitive. As far as I know, nobody really uses this stuff, or at least I haven't seen it in production, but it's been a good idea floating out there for at least 10 years now. If someone made a HATEOAS linter and a Postman extension, in addition to the obvious htmx endorsement, maybe it would gain some traction.