http://microformats.org/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=SfiRslMicroformats Wiki - User contributions [en]2026-05-13T08:03:41ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.38.4http://microformats.org/wiki/index.php?title=rest/rex-proposal&diff=17779rest/rex-proposal2007-06-22T18:21:52Z<p>SfiRsl: </p>
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<div>= REX: REST-Enabled XHTML =<br />
== The 0.8% Solution for Web Services ==<br />
==== October 19th, 2005 ====<br />
<br />
= What is REX? =<br />
* "Design Pattern" for Web Services<br />
** Architectural approach<br />
** Not a specific technology implementation<br />
** cf. DHTML, AJAX, REST, etc.<br />
* Specific profile for REST<br />
** XHTML microformats as the data format<br />
** Browser-compatible invocations<br />
** Human-friendly conventions<br />
** Trivial to implement with existing tools<br />
<br />
= Web Services: The Opportunity =<br />
* "The Next Big Thing"<br />
* Rewriting the web as a platform<br />
* Foundation of [Web 2.0] businesses<br />
** Architecture of participation<br />
** Infrastructure for collaboration<br />
* Enterprise App Integration (EAI) all over again<br />
<br />
= Web Services: The Problem =<br />
* Can work really well when you have:<br />
** Well-defined community<br />
** Well-run governance<br />
** Well-understood problem space<br />
* Not true of the public Internet<br />
* Not true of most vertical industries<br />
<br />
= The Answer(?): REST vs. RPC =<br />
* RPC: Remote Procedure Calls<br />
** URIs are method names<br />
** XML is the arguments format<br />
** Implemented in [http://www.xmlrpc.com/ XML-RPC] and [http://www.w3schools.com/soap/soap_intro.asp SOAP]<br />
* [http://www.xfront.com/REST-Web-Services.html REST]: Representational State Transfer<br />
** Nouns are URIs, verbs are HTTP: GET, PUT, POST, DELETE<br />
** XML documents are state information<br />
** Implemented at [http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2005/09/21/atom-store-web-database.html Atom], [http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3005 Amazon] (sorta)<br />
<br />
= Advantages of REST over RPC =<br />
* Much simpler to design<br />
** Easy to identify appropriate nouns<br />
** Don't need to define methods (verbs)<br />
** Don't need a complete object model<br />
* Easier to learn/invoke<br />
** Always know what a URI means<br />
** Need not 'tunnel' XML inside XML<br />
<br />
= Challenges of REST =<br />
;Discoverability: No standard way to find services<br />
;Interoperability: Too many incompatible ways to encode links, data<br />
;Extensibility: What if your schema isn't 100% right?<br />
;Comprehensibility: What the heck does "state transfer" mean?<br />
<br />
= Proposal: A Dual-Use (X)HTML Profile =<br />
* Subset of REST that works with browsers<br />
** XHTML Basic vs. arbitrary XML<br />
** Just GET</div>SfiRsl