Distributed Systems and the End of the API

Re:Distributed Systems and the End of the API by steveklabnik on Monday May 12, 2014 @09:41PM (#7736261)

While I agree with you that that's certainly an interesting part of the split between RPC and REST, you might be curious to know that Fielding doesn't think so.

> What makes HTTP significantly different from RPC is that the requests are directed to resources using a generic interface with standard semantics that can be interpreted by intermediaries almost as well as by the machines that originate services.

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/evaluatio...

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Re:Distributed Systems and the End of the API by ademarre on Monday May 12, 2014 @09:53PM (#7736286)

Interesting, thank you; but in that quote isn't Fielding actually comparing RPC and HTTP, not REST?

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Re:Distributed Systems and the End of the API by steveklabnik on Monday May 12, 2014 @09:55PM (#7736289)

Yes, you're right, I was being a bit sloppy there. The Uniform Interface (and Layered System) is one of the ways in which HTTP does follow RESTful principles, though, so the thrust is still the same.

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Re:Distributed Systems and the End of the API by ademarre on Monday May 12, 2014 @10:15PM (#7736322)

Agreed. But I think it's a stretch to conclude that Fielding doesn't think the hypermedia principle is an important distinction between RPC and REST:

From his blog post I linked to earlier, titled REST APIs must be hypertext-driven [0]:

> "I am getting frustrated by the number of people calling any HTTP-based interface a REST API. Today’s example is the SocialSite REST API. That is RPC. It screams RPC. There is so much coupling on display that it should be given an X rating.

"What needs to be done to make the REST architectural style clear on the notion that hypertext is a constraint?"

[0] http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/rest-apis-must-be-hyperte...

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