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QCon SF: Jim Webber -- A Couple of Ways to Scan an Internet Cat

Stefan Tilkov,

Jim Webber was way too fast, and way too funny, for me to take any notes — still, just to ensure I’ve treated all of “my” speakers equally, here’s a quick summary: Jim split his time equally between

  1. ensuring we’ll have to add a “parental guidance required” warning to his video once it’s online on InfoQ,
  2. insulting WSDL 1.1 (and WSDL 2.0) as well as its creator Sanjiva Weerawarana who was sitting in the row just behind me
  3. creating fits of laughter, esp. for Steve Vinoski (who was sitting next to me)
  4. presenting some really great technical content.

Initially, Jim talked about his view that MEST-style Web services are actually very useful, and that it’s the RPC concepts induced by WSDL that turn Web services into a mess. Then he spent some time assaulting both URL-RPC-style and POX-style HTTP misuses, although he found something positive in both — specifically, the fact that they’re dead simple to use. After a brief overview of the REST style, he showed an example of the use of hypermedia to drive the application’s state.

This was easily the most entertaining talk of the track, and I think it was a great way to conclude the day.