Doctrine:REST
From eg
REST or REpresentational State Transfer or RESTful doctrine was invented after the fact to describe what HTTP, the basic protocol of the public web, reducing its design features to a set of URI axioms.
The W3C sought to get more protocols of that kind developed that would do more useful things and spread everywhere. What HTTP did right, per REST, was to reduce all complex acts the user could take to a very few verbs (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE). The ECG
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[edit] according to linguists
Linguists later expanded on REST to advocate, in general, to use fewer verbs in user interfaces: pick a very few verbs that fit your application and make them do as much work as possible, appear as often as you can without overloading them to mean confusing things.
"The REST camp claims that when choosing between two grammars, one with customizable verbs (methods) and nouns (UR(I|N|L)s), and the other with a small fixed number of general verbs but customizable nouns, either of the two grammars can express the same thing, but the second grammer has better adoption characteristics among a large group of uncoordinated actors." - Clay Shirky describing The Essence of REpresentational State Transfer
Given that a typical programming language contains about ten to fifty verbs, and that this is much less than the hundreds that exist in even a simple English defining vocabulary, or the thousands that exist in the language in general, programming might be seen as a simplification of natural language. If so, the ECG claims, REST is a simplification of programming.
[edit] according to geeks...
Technically, a RESTful network protocol is one based on URI axioms based on the prototype protocol HTTP.
According to the ECG it doesn't only limit verbs but separates verb/noun/type development into three different problems wherever possible. There are better URI axioms that require only operational distinctions.
[edit] ...including GUI geeks
REST may have only peripheral importance to user interfaces, though trolls bitterly dispute that. The ECG for instance advocates eliminating bad spatial metaphor by sticking to the operational distinctions made in REST, e.g. using "get" instead of "go" on a search field, avoiding "move", etc. However, some of HTTP seems wrong given the experience of the web. The ECG analysis of prepositions and ECG naming conventions emphasize that "delete" should just be considered to be another "redirect", else it just creates "404" errors. See verb/noun/type for more on this debate.
[edit] leads to
- Doctrine:troll advises converging trollish with REST: put, get, post, delete, refresh, redirect, etc. mean the same as in HTTP! Some trolls seek to eventually speak directly to a web server and be understood without error. Rumours say this already happened. See troll ontology for more on the usefulness of REST to trolls.
- 4D capability lets one specify any object at-REST uniquely in all possible worlds. This relates the general principle or verb of rest with its meaning for humans
