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2/18/2002 10:03:40 AM, "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com> wrote:
>
>
>So Why Traditional RPC? Why Web Services per UDDI/WSDL/SOAP?
I didn't think there was much dispute -- this is the programming way,
the CORBA and DCOM way, to access remote applications. It works
well on LANs, so there's a solid base of experience to draw on that
you can hide the network behind an RPC. It makes a lot of intuitive
sense -- SOAP-RPC as a neutral wire format, WSDL as a neutral IDL,
UDDI as a directory service. It has a plausible business model:
vendors compete on ease of use and quality of implementation rather
than on basic protocols.
I can agree with the REST people that it's not "the Web way",
that it forces a reinvention of things that the Web already
supplies, and that it may not scale to the web as it really exists...
but I understand why the Web Services people chose the "programming
way" and treat the Web as simply a giant LAN. We shall see if
it works out that way.
I'll predict that both win: Traditional RPC really is the easiest
way for programmers, and will work well enough behind firewalls
and between established partners and in arenas where user simplicity
matters more than system reliability (e.g., for Userland's typical
customer, AFAIK). But now matter how fast the Internet that we know
today improves latency, reliability, security, etc., it will
be extended geographically and to smaller
and more mobile devices,continually opening more niches where the REST
paradigm shines.
The only "REST rules, RPC drools" scenario I can imagine, i.e. that
would make the WS tool vendors' inital focus on RPC ill-considered,
is if the non-programmers somehow grok REST big time
and find it an easy migration path from what they do now to
the Wonderful World of Web Services. It's more likely than
assuming they will learn to think like a programmer, no?
Will non-programmers build and use web services? Maybe not,
but who would have thought 10 years ago that the average student,
office worker, etc. would have a basic knowledge of a markup
langugage (HTML) today?
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