No, I'm not (thinking with blinders on, that is). Your call (equivalent to getBolt(partNo)) is simplistic in the utmost -- utterly unrealistic from a real-world standpoint, since you still need to go through the long, involved procedure of getting the part number in the first place. That's where something like REST breaks down -- in order to make the URI (and it IS all about URIs) look nice and human, I need to progress through several levels of query to get to the magic part number that's all warm and cuddly. How's that better than POSTing all of the specs in one go, especially if I know the specs but haven't a clue which part numbers (and there will be several, given that the bolts under discussion here will come in at least five alloys with three possible coatings) correspond? In the final analysis, is a part number more usable than an ugly URL? For that matter, how permanent are your part numbers? (In my experience, they are superceded at least as often as, say, a Domino UNID.)
It's great if you can simply name a resource (say a product name or part number), but if there's anything more complex involved, then REST addressing is far, far more complex and roundabout than either a proper POST or a query-structured GET. Even your simple cheese discussion gets more and more involved the more people talk about cheese.
REST is great in theory, but like so many other concepts in fashion, it's never actually been extended by its proponents into a complex real-world situation. Dammit, its nothing more than a vogue look at the world as we geeks know it. And like every other buzzword manure pile, it will genearte a lot of unnecessary work with absolutely nothing to be shown at the end of the day except full buzzword-compliance.
No, I'm not (thinking with blinders on, that is). Your call (equivalent to getBolt(partNo)) is simplistic in the utmost -- utterly unrealistic from a real-world standpoint, since you still need to go through the long, involved procedure of getting the part number in the first place. That's where something like REST breaks down -- in order to make the URI (and it IS all about URIs) look nice and human, I need to progress through several levels of query to get to the magic part number that's all warm and cuddly. How's that better than POSTing all of the specs in one go, especially if I know the specs but haven't a clue which part numbers (and there will be several, given that the bolts under discussion here will come in at least five alloys with three possible coatings) correspond? In the final analysis, is a part number more usable than an ugly URL? For that matter, how permanent are your part numbers? (In my experience, they are superceded at least as often as, say, a Domino UNID.)
It's great if you can simply name a resource (say a product name or part number), but if there's anything more complex involved, then REST addressing is far, far more complex and roundabout than either a proper POST or a query-structured GET. Even your simple cheese discussion gets more and more involved the more people talk about cheese.
REST is great in theory, but like so many other concepts in fashion, it's never actually been extended by its proponents into a complex real-world situation. Dammit, its nothing more than a vogue look at the world as we geeks know it. And like every other buzzword manure pile, it will genearte a lot of unnecessary work with absolutely nothing to be shown at the end of the day except full buzzword-compliance.