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Why are most web services in REST style and not (also) in XML-RPC?

I know that Flickr provides ways to work with XML-RPC and REST.

There are standard XML-RPC libraries for each language (for example, Python has a built-in xmlrpclib ).

The standard XML-RPC libraries perform serialization / deserialization, as well as sending / receiving responses.

It seems to me that websites that use the REST style for the same API will eventually write their own libraries in each language. Example: Yahoo! Search SDK.

It seems to me that the XML-RPC method is better, but all the evidence is opposite. Why?

So:

  • Why are most web services in REST style rather than XML-RPC?
  • Are there any flaws in XML-RPC that are not obvious?
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5 answers

  • Rest is not just simpler, it is much easier.

  • Xml-Rpc / soap has a lot of moving parts and a huge amount of overhead, cognitive and otherwise, which (very often) is not needed, its complex and, if you especially need some of the functions that it provides, it’s just not worth it

  • Not every service request needs to be packaged as a formal function call with parameters

  • REST is also a formal system that is well defined and a great model for representing resources available on the Internet (hence the term REST)

Having said that, it’s easy to make a lot of newbie mistakes with REST, so google around how to use it first, you will be happy that you did.

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This is a great question. If you do not use hypermedia for detection and standard multimedia formats, you are unlikely to get the benefits of REST. You can also stick with XML-RPC.

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Simple answer: REST is generally easier to implement

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There is a lot of discussion on the Internet, so I won’t go deep into the answer. In short: easy. Easy to write, easy to understand, easy to debug. You can write this in your browser and it will probably bring something useful. Excellent.

This lightness comes at a price of lesser “opportunity”, but the theory says that ultimately lightness can be more worthy.

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REST is the Internet’s own architectural style. (In fact, it was the inverse transformation of how the Web already works.) XML-RPC and SOAP are trying to use a completely different (procedural, imperative) programming model and adapt it to the Internet. As a result, REST becomes cleaner and more flexible.

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