[microformats-discuss] REX! Re: REST-discuss list, naming

[Ryan King]

On Oct 21, 2005, at 7:29 AM, Dimitri Glazkov wrote:
> On 10/21/05, Joe Gregorio <joe.gregorio at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 10/20/05, Luke Arno <luke.arno at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I am going to play devil's advocate a bit here.
>>>
>>> REST is just the architectural style of HTTP. HTML (now XHTML) is  
>>> the
>>> bread and butter of HTTP. Perhaps the name should convey what is
>>> new here. REX sort of emphasizes the parts of what you are doing
>>> that are nothing new. You may get reactions like this:
>>>
>>> http://ln.hixie.ch/?start=1111339822&count=1
>>
>> +1
>>
>> I think there is an important point here, and it could be simply  
>> stated as:
>>
>> "If you are putting together a RESTful service don't
>>  jump straight to building your own XML vocabulary
>>  but instead first consider using XHTML."

Good point here, Joe.

> Can I go even further here and suggest that we table the name
> discussion for a bit?

Agreed.

> "REX" served fine for DrErnie's presentation, but there is still a lot
> to be understood about the beast. Like Ryan said, this whole commotion
> is simply about a proper use of the World Wide Web. Where's the beef?
> Let's define that first.
>
> Joe's simple statement (see above) might be enough, but I suspect
> there are guiding principles and architectural patterns that will be
> needed for better understanding and adoption.
>
> Finally, while this is related to microformats, I think there are
> quite a few things that are seem to be outside of the realm. For
> instance, DrErnie and I debated whether sample REST server
> architectures belong on the Wiki or the list.
>
> What do you think?

I'd prefer that we stay as focused as possible here- why boil oceans,  
lakes, rivers, ponds or even swimming pools when we have glasses of  
cold water sitting right around us, just waiting to be boiled (so  
that Ryan can have his coffee)?

Seriously, there's so much low-hanging-fruit for us to work on. I  
mean, just look at http://microformats.org/wiki/to-do. And not  
everything that could be done is on that page- there are so many  
other things which need to be done, but we just haven't taken the  
time to document them.

Let's focus on simple, LHF which can be consumed quickly. We can roll  
up to more complex problems later.

Practically, here are some things that can be worked on *now*:

* Microformats Zen Garden (I know there's many who're willing to  
contribute, but we need a point person, still)
* http://microformats.org/wiki/hreview-examples
* There's always room for wiki-gardening. How could we organize  
things better?
* implementations - evangelize and implement formats; build tools  
(WordPress, anyone?)
* Open Discussions: blog-formats, resumes, listings, last-modified,  
media-metadata, citations, tables (aka XOXT)
* a million other little things

-ryan

--
Ryan King
ryan at technorati.com