Mar 29 2007
RESTful Rails
Dave Thomas posted a better explanation of the goals behind some recent Rails REST stuff today. So, the goal is to write REST first, and have your web face be a proxy for REST, just like a thick client would be. I’ve never thought of REST like that, it’s usually a nice little add-on at the end of a web app. It’s an interesting idea, for sure. I get the concept, it seems all well and good, I’m just not sure I understand what it really buys you. What’s the difference between building a conventional web app first, then adding a REST service on top of it? The suggestion is really just to swap the order out, right? Build your REST service, then your web app consumes your REST service? I get the concept (I think), I’m just not entirely sure why that’s a step forward. It’s definitely a step, I’m just not sure in which direction. My gut says it’s to the side.
This is clearly the start of a conceptual waltz.
