Re:Best practices for REST API design (2020)
by rualca on Wednesday February 24, 2021 @02:24AM
(#26247530)
> I'm not fine with making an API use HATEOAS
And that's perfectly fine, but don't call what you're doing REST because it really isn't.
Re:Best practices for REST API design (2020)
by incrudible on Wednesday February 24, 2021 @07:49AM
(#26249291)
This is a semantic dispute. Our disagreement is on whether this is a dispute worth arguing over.
There are many other industry buzzwords like "object oriented" that don't match up with what the people who coined the term had in mind. It's a nuisance, but nothing to get worked up over.
I'm not fine with making an API use HATEOAS, especially not for the sake of being pedantically accurate about the word REST.
As for your defense of HATEOAS, you're not doing a good job. If it's such a good idea, why is pretty much nobody doing it as intended? How exactly does it help with versioning? Can you describe a real use case?
The way I see it, if you want to break your API, slap /v2 in front of it. Otherwise, I strongly suggest that you do not break your API. Do not move stuff around pointlessly. I guarantee you that even if you followed HATEOAS best practices to the letter, your clients are still going to break. You don't want that.