Re: Does RM make a qualitative difference?

Mark Baker wrote on 12/17/2002 05:03:53 PM:

> 
<snip/>
> 
> And I suggest that GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE comprise a sufficient
> coordination language for this purpose.
> 
> Yes, this is yet another attempt at espousing the *enormous* value of
> the uniform interface constraint, whose rejection by this WG, and the
> industry at large, continues to boggle my mind.

I think that REJECTION is a rather strong, and IMO inaccurate, term. 
You keep saying that the WG has REJECTED this constraint, and yet we (the 
WG) keep 
responding that we are still considering whether, where, and how REST fits 

into the Web services architecture.

Quoting from Roy's thesis[1] in section 5.1.5:

"The central feature that distinguishes the REST architectural style from 
other network-based styles is its emphasis on a uniform interface between 
components (Figure 5-6). By applying the software engineering principle of 
generality to the component interface, the overall system architecture is 
simplified and the visibility of interactions is improved. Implementations 
are decoupled from the services they provide, which encourages independent 
evolvability. The trade-off, though, is that a uniform interface degrades 
efficiency, since information is transferred in a standardized form rather 
than one which is specific to an application's needs. The REST interface 
is designed to be efficient for large-grain hypermedia data transfer, 
optimizing for the common case of the Web, but resulting in an interface 
that is not optimal for other forms of architectural interaction."

The emphasis in the above quote is mine. That statement alone should give 
one pause.

IMO, you do yourself and your cause a disservice by making rash statements 
like
the one above. 

> 
> MB
> -- 
> Mark Baker.   Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.        http://www.markbaker.ca
> Web architecture consulting, technical reports, evaluation & analysis
> 

Christopher Ferris
Architect, Emerging e-business Industry Architecture
email: chrisfer@us.ibm.com
phone: +1 508 234 3624