Sam Ruby: "I keep writing, rewriting, and discarding essays on how REST and SOAP can be friends. It is a darn shame that the most zealous of REST proponents don't realize the damage that bad advocacy can cause".

I for one would love to see some of those discarded articles. I'm still internalizing REST, but it seems to me that:

• REST is a viable approach for a certain class of problems
• SOAP is a viable approach for a certain class of problems
• these classes of problems intersect in RESTful SOAP, which is good
• good advocacy of REST promotes understanding & expands the intersection
• bad advocacy of REST foments discord & shrinks the intersection

I sometimes wonder if advocacy itself isn't the root of the problem: if REST devotees were to emphasize understanding of REST, rather than repudiation of SOAP, more people might achieve the zen of REST.

[Peter Drayton's Radio Weblog]

Peter, thanks for the thoughtful perspective. IMHO, education is in general much more effective than advocacy.

5:12:30 PM  comment ()