REST seems like a good idea. It is the architecture of the internet. Not that the internet was designed with it, REST has been identified much later by Roy Fielding. Some people claim that the internet is such a success because of REST. But is it? Perhaps an even better internet is possible. I like the idea of an architecture developed by evolution. But to my opinion evolution theories are not made for cases with just one species with one member.

There is a component based telecom application we need a prototype for, and REST seems just the ticket. I will give it a try. Base a design on URIs, HTTP and XML. No method calls, no CORBA or SOAP issues to deal with, just "calling" URIs and receiving XML. A big part of the design will be developing a good XML vocabulary if there is not an existing one that is good to use. So, that will make me have to learn HTTP, because I really can't stand it when I don't know much about something that seems important and I have to use it. They say one of the good things about REST is that the "HTTP gives you authentication, authorization and encryption". But I know almost nothing about how they work. They do not seem to be things programmers have to deal with much, but rather web server configuration things? I really don't want to keep some application running as a webserver, or be faced with the weird unix cron things I try to avoid, if even I have permission for such things at my ISP. I know how to do CGI programming, but would it be possible to add HTTP authentication etc. myself, or do I have to bother my ISP for that? Can anybody recommend a nice writing about HTTP? Hmm, I keep forgetting nobody reads these things, so I am going to look for a usenet group where you can ask such things.