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--- at-m42:lecture11 [2009/04/17 08:56] – eechris
+++ at-m42:lecture11 [2011/01/14 12:45] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 379: / Line 379: @@
 ===== Resources with multiple representations =====
+  * An HTTP client is expected to be able to handle multiple resources types and to make use of //content negotiation// to request a particular format:
+  GET /players/1234 HTTP/1.1
+  Host: game.com
+  Accept: text/html
+  GET /players/1234 HTTP/1.1
+  Host: game.com
+  Accept: application/atom+xml
+----
+There is a significant benefit of having multiple representations of a resource in practice: If you provide both an HTML and an XML representation of your resources, they are consumable not only by your application, but also by every standard Web browser — in other words, information in your application becomes available to everyone who knows how to use the Web.
 ===== Communicate statelessly =====
+  * HTTP is a //stateless// protocol: every request is a //new request//.
+  * Therefore state must be stored in the client or in the resources.
+===== Impact of REST =====
+  * World-wide web is built on a RESTful architecture, so you could argue that it's already proved its worth.
+  * Becoming more popular for distributed computing: key feature of application frameworks like Rails and Grails.
+  * Needs a rethink: away from traditional OO design based around a few nouns and a rich vocabulary of verbs to few verbs and many nouns.
 ===== Distributed Computing APIs =====
@@ Line 423: / Line 445: @@
   * If some part of the application uses legacy code or is not written in Java then use CORBA
   * SOAP is a recent attempt to simplify distributed computing by use of XML and standard internet technologies like HTTP.
-  * RESTful services recognizes that HTTP itself can provide many of the benefits of CORBA or SOAP a much lest cost.
+  * RESTful services recognizes that HTTP itself can provide many of the benefits of CORBA or SOAP at much lest cost.
   * JINI is a networking technology that allows small applications or networked devices to communicate with other and dynamically configure themselves to create distributed applications.
+===== What Should You Remember? =====
+Apart from some special cases, current trend (as we'll see) is away from distributed computing using RMI, CORBA and SOAP towards a Web-Based architecture constructed from user-facing HTML clients consuming RESTful services over HTTP and with machine-to-machine communications exploiting XML resource exchange over HTTP. JINI is a niche technology that was in the doldrums for a long time. JNDI, RMI, and SOAP are still important in Enterprise Application Development, but over time, I would expect them to become relegated to very specialized "back office" applications.
 ----
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