About All Things... |
Declarative,
Mobile 2.0,
REST,
Cloud,
Web 2.0,
Ajax,
Publish / Subscribe,
Event-Driven Architectures,
JSON,
Atom,
Microformats,
Linked Data,
P2P,
Identity,
Copyright,
Multimedia,
Cyberspace.
|
...taking programming beyond: Threads, Message Queues, Client-Server, CORBA, Web Services, SOAs, Agents, Synchronous Architectures, Imperative Programming - and even Applications, Desktops and Documents |
Duncan Cragg... |
...works for ThoughtWorks UK; originally from April 2002 to July 2007 and now recently re-joined. Previously worked as a Web Architect for the Financial Times. |
...went to both UCL and Imperial College of the University of London (in the Eighties); specialising in Logic during his MSc. |
...wonders when his LinkedIn Account will be useful |
...has a phone-cam, and used it on himself once, just before his weekly shave:
|
...can be contacted by
and followed on Twitter.
|
|
|
|
January 20, 2012 18:07
Updated: January 23, 2012 19:45
Right, let's get started with some basic conventions in the Object Network!
This part in the Object Network series
will cover URLs, HTTP headers and some common JSON patterns.
Updated 23/1/12: I changed the URLs in the example to have one of each type.
...
January 19, 2012 20:58
Updated: January 22, 2012 16:05
OK, I'm trying to take a Big Idea and make it as Simple As Possible to grasp.
If we link our JSON data together and use the same formats, then our mobile, browser and
server apps can become much simpler - through clean, stable, common, shared, re-used
code - and much more powerful - through clean, stable, common, shared, linked, cached data.
This is the second part in the
Object Network series,
which will guide you away from building isolated Web APIs to engaging in a linked-up data landscape.
...
November 29, 2011 23:11
Updated: January 22, 2012 16:03
It's interesting to compare the
current growth of Web APIs
with the early growth of the Web itself.
To save you jumping those links: the Web dramatically beats the APIs.
I believe that the most likely cause of such relatively slow growth (in what should be a
booming ecosystem) is that each API forms a closed silo and cannot benefit from any
network effects. Every API is different and there are no links between them. There
usually aren't any links within a silo. You can't even use a given API without first
consulting the documentation.
The Object Network is designed to fix this, with linked-up
JSON in common formats. This will allow easier mashing, sharing and cacheing of data and
allow client code to be shared and reused.
...
May 10, 2011 11:11
The Web, in its purest form - declarative HTML and CSS documents, XML feeds - is
mashable, linkable, sharable. It's easy to create documents that slot into the global
Web and can be accessed on any device; accessed by just a simple link. Servers can
easily scale through statelessness and cacheing.
Native Mobile Apps are fast and slick. They are intimate with the dynamic, interactive,
tactile mobile user interface, intimate with the capabilities of the device and intimate
with the domain of mobile: photos, locations, contacts, messages.
OTS is a simple, clean, powerful approach to delivering Mobile functionality and
content that is designed to realise these benefits of both Native Apps and the Web.
...
November 25, 2009 21:29
Say we want to integrate multiple applications which handle order processing. OK, that's
got to be one of the dullest starts to a blog post. Never mind, bear with me...
So, we have applications on separate servers for handling and driving data such as
orders, product descriptions and catalogues, stock lists, price lists, tracking, packing
notes and delivery notes, invoices, payments, etc.
We may choose an SOA approach, of course. But let's say our sponsors have heard of this
cheaper alternative: REST! Which to them means 'using Web technology to save money'.
Now .. suppose we push the time slider right back to before Mark Baker and the SOA -vs-
REST Wars - or the 'SOAP -vs- REST Wars' as people naively called it. To when REST was
simply (!) a description of the Web's architectural style...
What if we revisit the applicability of the Web, and its abstraction into REST, to the
architecture of machine-to-machine distributed systems - to something like our order
processing integration?
I think we'd quickly arrive at something that looks more like
FOREST
than, say, AtomPub...
...
August 13, 2009 11:43
In an exclusive nine-part dialogue with an imaginary eBay
Architect, we present an accessible discussion of the
REST vs. SOA issue.
Although eBay have what they call a 'REST' interface, it is, in
fact, a
STREST
interface, and only works for a few of the many function calls
that they make available via SOAP.
In this dialogue series,
I argue the case for eBay to adopt a truly REST approach to
their integration API.
Part 9: Web Objects Ask, They Never Tell
...
February 16, 2008 23:44
In an exclusive nine-part dialogue with an imaginary eBay
Architect, we present an accessible discussion of the
REST vs. SOA issue.
Although eBay have what they call a 'REST' interface, it is, in
fact, a
STREST
interface, and only works for a few of the many function calls
that they make available via SOAP (GetSearchResults, GetItem,
GetCategoryListings, etc).
In this dialogue series,
I argue the case for eBay to adopt a truly REST approach to
their integration API.
Part 6: Content-Types and URIs
...
October 5, 2007 11:22
Last night's
Google London Open Source Jam
(also here)
was on the subject of the 'Web' (didn't they invent that? Oh no,
that was Microsoft).
This event has been getting better and better each time I've
attended. There were some very interesting lightning talks held
together with a tight structure and plenty of chance to chat,
drink cold Leffe and eat cold pizza. And nick [transatlantic
translation: 'steal'] the
Green & Black's chocolate.
An ideal Micro Conference...
...
June 26, 2007 15:17
Web 2.0's definition
includes seeing the Web as an application platform. Which means it
is in competition with Java and .Net, and with SOA, for both local
and widely distributed applications.
If the Web is going to be a platform, the skills you need to learn
to program it are the core Web 2.0 technologies such as Ajax, JSON,
Atom, Microformats and OpenID.
And Ruby. This language, that's capturing the hearts of many Web 2.0
programmers, is ideal for easing the transition from the Java
and .Net platforms to the Web platform, as I will show.
Even if you're part of a big company that is generally immune to the
latest trends, the marriage of Ruby and the Web-as-platform may be
something to prepare for. It could even displace your SOA agenda...
...
June 20, 2007 22:42
In an exclusive nine-part dialogue with an imaginary eBay
Architect, we present an accessible discussion of the
REST vs. SOA issue.
Although eBay have what they call a 'REST' interface, it is, in
fact, a
STREST
interface, and only works for a few of the many function calls
that they make available via SOAP (GetSearchResults, GetItem,
GetCategoryListings, etc).
In this dialogue series,
I argue the case for eBay to adopt a truly REST approach to
their integration API.
Part 5: The Distributed Observer Pattern
...
January 18, 2007 11:12
What do all the MAJOR Web 2.0 technologies of 2007 have in
common?
Let me list them first:
M.icroformats (including tags)
A.jax (including Comet)
J.SON (plus YAML)
O.penID (plus SXIP, LID, Yadis)
R.EST (including Atom, APP)
What these technologies have in common is that they're
all lighter than their competitors:
Microformats | Lighter than the Semantic Web |
Ajax | Lighter than Fat Client (!) |
JSON | Lighter than XML |
OpenID | Lighter than SAML/Liberty Alliance |
REST | Lighter than SOA |
...
November 15, 2006 23:37
In an exclusive nine-part dialogue with an imaginary eBay
Architect, we present an accessible discussion of the
REST vs. SOA issue.
Although eBay have what they call a 'REST' interface, it is, in
fact, a
STREST
interface, and only works for one of the many function calls
that they make available via SOAP (GetSearchResults).
In this dialogue series,
I argue the case for eBay to adopt a truly REST approach to
their integration API.
Part 2: Setting Data
...
November 14, 2006 00:05
In an exclusive nine-part dialogue with an imaginary eBay
Architect, we present an accessible discussion of the
REST vs. SOA issue.
Although eBay have what they call a 'REST' interface, it is, in
fact, a
STREST
interface, and only works for one of the many function calls
that they make available via SOAP (GetSearchResults).
In this dialogue series,
I argue the case for eBay to adopt a truly REST approach to
their integration API.
Part 1: Getting Data
...
July 13, 2006 14:33
Don't write your interactive Web application in custom
Javascript! The Web's Declarative nature needn't be
broken just because you want two-way dynamic data instead of
one-way documents on your site.
Instead, write Declaratively to generic Javascripts, plugins
and browser features such as
Hijax,
hInclude,
XForms,
SVG, XBL, etc.
...
June 7, 2006 19:10
Microformats are subversive:
they not only challenge the approach of full-blown Semantic Web
approaches, but even question fundamental Web 2.0 building
blocks such as Web Feeds and Web APIs.
I recently attended
XTech 2006,
where there were a few talks related to Microformats.
After summarising these talks, I'll finish with my shocking
revelations about the subversive nature of Microformats!
...
|
|
|
|