Robert Dionne
Chief Programmer
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203.231.9961
On Feb 24, 2009, at 6:54 AM, Antony Blakey wrote:
On 24/02/2009, at 10:11 PM, Robert Dionne wrote:
I read this thesis ages ago, and technically you are correct, if
somewhat pedantic. I think CouchDB captures the just of being REST-
ful and certainly from a marketing perspective it's timely.
That's why I say it's a marketing issue. Surely we shouldn't copy
Microsoft's marketing tactics and deliberately misuse a term for
marketing reasons. The site should say 'HTTP API'.
It's an exaggeration to suggest that CouchDB's use of the term REST
is akin to Microsoft's marketing tactics. Nor is it a matter of being
complicit. Your argument that it is not RESTful is similar to saying
someone is not a good catholic because they eat meat on Fridays and
subscribe to other reforms of recent vatican councils. REST is an
interesting idea but let's face it, with all due respect to Roy
Fielding, it's merely a statement that this is how the web works and
what makes it work well. It generated excitement I think largely as a
contrast to the ugliness of SOAP. I'm happy it produced a readable
thesis.
In fact the fuzziness of the idea explains why there are so many
arguments about what's RESTful or not.
When I mention to potential customers that CouchDB database are
accessed with URIs they say "oh it uses this new REST stuff,
cool". Often we have little choice over how the world takes an
idea and runs with it.
But we don't have to be complicit. And remember this isn't about
the world taking an *idea*. It's about people wanting a cool label
to stick on their project, even if the label doesn't fit.
What term would you suggest for a service that fulfills Fielding's
definition? Certainly the benefits of being 'RESTful' according to
his definition don't flow on to CouchDB, because it's NOT actually
RESTful.
Antony Blakey
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In itself – a quiet thing
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In dormant nature – lain –
Let us divide – with skill –
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Before it exists in Fire –
-– Emily Dickinson 913 (1865)
