Parse Releases Their REST API

Parse Releases Their REST API(parse.com)

76 points by tyler 14 years ago | 32 comments

KevBurnsJr 14 years ago |

This is an HTTP API, not a REST API.

http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/rest-apis-must-be-hyperte...

psadauskas 14 years ago | |

Furthering our wanderings down this off-topic thread, I agree with you completely, but every time I point it out, I get accused of being a "pedant". I've implemented several truly restful APIs, and they've always worked beautifully, but they're internal or private. I tell others about it, and the immense advantages, but they see every other HTTP-RPC API out there and copy that instead.

Why is it that there's no examples of a truly restful web service in practice? The only one I can think of offhand is Sun Cloud's API, which is pretty dead. Its hard to espouse the virtues of a truly restful API when there aren't any examples to point at.

Edit: The downvotes would seem to just further my point...

generalk 14 years ago | | |

If you say you've written some very RESTful APIs internally, perhaps writing an article about the things you've specifically done from most APIs that makes yours RESTful and advantageous vs. a less RESTful API.

pstuart 14 years ago | | |

I upvoted you.

I would like to learn how to do REST "right", and (for me) it's easier to learn by playing with a working example that deals with "real world" issues as opposed to abstract snippets that only show how APIs get used.

Any further insights/examples/pointers would be greatly appreciated.

robinhowlett 14 years ago | | |

Subbu Allamaraju (ex-Yahoo, now eBay) has been the one proponent of REST that I believe speaks the most sense.

He understands that most "RESTful" APIs out there leave HATEOS as an afterthought, but he doesn't believe there is such a thing as a 100% RESTful API - you match the architectural style to the context of the problem you are trying to solve.

http://www.subbu.org/

enjo 14 years ago | | |

Twilio is pretty close.

jethroalias97 14 years ago | |

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

stanleydrew 14 years ago | | |

Are you saying Roy Fielding is like Humpty Dumpty? If so this doesn't appear to be a very useful or enlightening comment.

kevinpet 14 years ago | |

That's a valid criticism of APIs that think "it's not SOAP, so it must be REST", but this is close enough to REST that it seems pedantry to claim it isn't.

So all apologies to Roy Fielding, but through success, he has lost control of his terminology. This is what people mean by REST today.

loup-vaillant 14 years ago | | |

That reminds me of what happened to "Object Oriented". First, Alan Kay coined the term, having something like Smaltalk in head (emphasis on messages, and a strong dislike of unchecked side effects like setters and the assignment statement). Then the term was subverted, and we got C++ and Java (emphasis on classes, and a near-total disregard for the problems of pervasive side effects[1]).

My point is, we should be careful before we corrupt a term. Doing so corrupts our perception of the concept itself. And if it turns out the corrupt concept is less help than the pure one, too late : it's already popular.

[1]: That assignment thing really sucks: http://www.loup-vaillant.fr/articles/assignment

KevBurnsJr 14 years ago | | |

Your argument appears to be unconcerned with truth, wisdom or understanding.

dm3 14 years ago | |

The following classification helped me resolve more than one REST terminology related conflict. Hope it'll be useful: http://www.nordsc.com/ext/classification_of_http_based_apis.....

RoboTeddy 14 years ago |

This looks simple and well-designed.

It's weird how so many APIs don't feel like they were actually designed by programmers. This one, on the other hand, just looks right.

keeganpoppen 14 years ago |

Awesome-- I was looking into Parse for a project I was working on, but was really needed access to their data storage otherwise I was going to have to have to hand roll it. Glad that I put it off a weekend! :)

chubs 14 years ago |

I'm a big fan of these guys - i just send a support question and got a response in 4 minutes!

Nemisis7654 14 years ago | |

Yeah, these guys are great. I recently received a personalized email about an update they were releasing and then I was asked about the application I was building. It's little things like that that make me like these guys and will make me stick with them.

Edit: Spelling.

Skroob 14 years ago |

I've never heard of Parse before, so thanks for the link because it looks like a dream come true for me.

kevinpet 14 years ago | |

I'd like to see the ability to delegate the storage to other accounts. That is, I want XYZ app to use my parse account, not XYZs. It sounds a good place to hook in what I'd like to see around owning my own data and having universal access to it.

evanlong 14 years ago |

This service is pure magic awesome!