RESTful Web Services
RESTful Web Services, by Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby, was published this month. I interviewed the authors yesterday for an upcoming ITConversations show, but I also want to spell out here why I think it's such an important book. — In the realm of IT you could hardly pick a more controversial topic.
Context & Ripple Effects
RESTful Web Services, Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby's new book out this month, arrives while the choice between REST and SOAP-style service design is still contested enough that Jon Udell calls it among the most controversial topics in IT. Udell has already recorded an interview with both authors for an upcoming ITConversations show, and the book's publication drew same-day pickup on oreilly.com — a signal that the argument is moving from blog threads into formal developer education.
First-order effects
- Developers evaluating how to expose services get a single practical reference for the REST approach at exactly the moment Udell's endorsement and the ITConversations interview give it mainstream visibility.
Second-order effects
- Vendors whose tooling assumes SOAP-and-WSDL service contracts face a growing cohort trained on resource-oriented HTTP design, forcing the 'controversial' framing Udell describes into concrete product and platform decisions.
Third-order effects
- If REST becomes the default way a generation of developers learns to build web services, the enterprise middleware layer built around heavier service-description stacks loses its assumed role as the entry point for API work.
The trend: Web service design is shifting from SOAP-based enterprise toolkits toward resource-oriented HTTP APIs, with books like Richardson and Ruby's codifying the practice for working developers.