RSpec my authority!

REST has been a topic of discussion over the past few years, and a particularly hot item these past several months. I think the recent interest is due in no small part to Rails' attention to REST (simply_restful and ActiveResource) and the world's attention to Rails. I'm not going to cover any of the angles, surely if you're reading this blog then you've already seen them.

Yesterday I was writing an email to a coworker, discussing REST. I mentioned that I don't think people understand the value of it because most of the value comes down the road. The main benefit, in my mind, is flexibility. REST makes you think of the web as resources, and when you build your application around resources that adhere to the HTTP protocol you get tremendous flexibility. I can build an application that makes good use of resources I control, as well as resources other people control. Someone else may write something that makes valuable use of "my" resources.

It's impossible to quantify this value, because you have no clue what it is. If you could, you'd just build it yourself. People really can't conceptualize the value in building an application that provides the flexibility to create tremendous value down the line. See? It's even tough as hell just to describe.

I think the only way to show people the value of REST is to be a client of REST. Take advantage of some web resource in your real-world application. Tell your bosses and coworkers that you did something the original authors never intended, that you provided value they had never even considered. Why should you build that flexibility into your app? Because the unintended user some day could very well be you.