Who Cares?

S. Mike Dierken in the rest-discuss Yahoo group...

I've only met two or three people that understand - much less care deeply - about REST. I have met people that quickly recognize the value when I explain the basics, though. Amazon is full of very smart & quick people.

Put me in that latter category. Not that I am very smart or quick, but I recognize the value of the basics. I still get lost in the details when even the people who care deeply debate them.

I like this from Roy Fielding, which may be enough for me...

In short, if you can draw a state machine in which each state is self-described (resident on the client), the transitions from that state are also self-described (instructions for the client to initiate), and each transition is invoked using a self-descriptive message, then you have a RESTful application. All of the rest of the constraints fall out from the need to be self-descriptive...

Note, however, that it isn't necessary for all components to understand all of the semantics. It is only necessary for them to know when they do understand them and also when they do not. That way, applications can be deployed within the subset of the network that does understand without adversely impacting the components that do not (assuming they are implemented according to the communication standards).

And then there's this follow-up from Dave Pawson...

Following this most recent thread makes grabbing eels look easy.