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

Fri Oct 21 11:48:23 PDT 2005

Hi Dimitri,
On Oct 21, 2005, at 10:51 AM, Dimitri Glazkov wrote:
> On 10/21/05, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar <drernie at opendarwin.org> wrote:
>>>> I think there are actually two different issues at stake. To
>> Stephen's point, one aspect of this really is simply how to encode
>> REST information inside XHTML, which is a valid topic for 
>> microformats.
>> But what _is_ this REST information? I guess I don't have a firm grasp
> on this just yet to understand what you mean. IMHO, there is no such
> thing as a REST information -- there's just a proper way to use the
> Web.

I personally prefer to avoid terms like "proper" -- that's a level of 
dogmatism even I (objectivist as I am!) don't aspire to. :-) 
Instead, I prefer to label these as specific styles or, well, 
"preferences." That way, people can feel free to opt-in to sharing 
this perspective if they agree it is useful, rather than being told 
they're "improper" if they opt-out. A subtle linguistic point, 
perhaps, but an important difference in psychological attitude.
Thus, just as REST is a particular "style" of doing web services, REX 
is a particular *style* for doing REST. As sunch, my goal is to 
introduce the minimal number of additional constraints necessary on 
top of "conventional" REST. Of course, even *that* is a somewhat 
nebulous concept, so it isn't always clear what is "additional" vs. 
"clarification" vs. "redundant."
 From "REX" perspective, we accept the usual definition of REST:
	a) nouns are URIs
	b) verbs are HTTP methods
and refine it further:
	a') nouns are structured URLs which dereference to XHTML Basic 
documents
	b') verbs are simply GET & POST (no PUT or DELETE)
	c) there are no input documents, only url-encoded key-value pairs
	d) links are always encoded as either hyperlinks or forms
	e) all data is encoded using XOXO and/or other relevant microformats
I think those principles are both necessary and sufficient to ensure 
both interoperability and browser-compatibility. You could certainly 
argue that, if REST is "web services done the way the web actually 
works", then this style is the logical and inevitable embodiment of 
that sentiment.
But, while I don't mind *you* making that argument, *I* don't want 
to. :-) In other words, I'm trying to do the absolutely least 
possible amount of work with as little controversy as possible.
Of course, the hard part is figured out how little is possible...
Does that clear things up at all?
-- Ernie P.