Having met Marc, I’m sure he’s got some great ideas and the best of intentions for this JSR. However, he’s got an uphill struggle given the propensity for the JCP to produce horrible compromise solutions that excite very few people.
I’ve spent some time of the last few days trying to design a java REST API and I’m a little stuck. I keep on defining a higher level HTTP API. That, or a generic object/HTTP mapping a-la RoR. Neither is really a REST API. I suspect that’s what the outcome of the JSR will be, though to keep the servlet api people in Sun happy, they’ll keep the REST name, annoying a number of people and confusing many more. Please Marc, if you’re simply defining a higher level HTTP API, drop the REST name.
As a higher level HTTP API, I do like the example that Marc showed in his blog. It looks pretty simple, and I don’t see why (if you were building an implementation on top of the servlet API), it would take very long to implement. So, I’d encourage Sun to implement it, release it widely very soon, and solicit feedback before even a public review of the spec. You’ll get a lot more feedback from use than from people reviewing a PDF.
I think there’s real scope here for a distinct improvement for people progamming (POX|JSON)/HTTP or REST, and that it can be done pretty simply. This is a proof point for the JCP. If a spec comes out that prereqs JAX-WS, it’ll be a nail in the coffin of this JSR before it ships and will reinforce the view that complexity rather than simplicity is a JEE design goal.
2 Responses to “JSR 311, Java API for RESTful Web Services”