What We Need is More REST and Less ROT

One of the key properties of RESTful Web applications is the ability to evolve over time. Too many Web APIs don’t evolve; they just get old, and useless; they rot. Why? Because they are little more than URI-based RPC calls returning serialized objects. Instead, Web APIs should rely on well-crafted media-type messages driven by links; they should be more RESTful.

This talk covers a handful of key design decisions that must be faced for every Web 2.0 API implementation. The choices are easy, the work is not. Too many frameworks and programming tools lead developers down the “wrong path” toward short-term expediency using record-based CRUD APIs returing XML or JSON without hyperlinks in the message; they follow the ROT (Representation Object Transfer) principles. Instead developers and architects need to ignore the “blandishments” of slick editors and frameworks and just knuckle down some hard slogging down the “right path;” the one that leads to a stable, scalable, re-usable, and evolve-able API based on Fielding’s REST principles.

Whether you are an individual developer, a small start-up, or a large, established company, now is the time to start creating more REST and less ROT.