There’s a great discussion going on over at InfoQ about the role and future of REST in light of WebSockets. Mark Little’s article collects a handful of quotes and opinions around the topic, giving a well rounded view. With a few exceptions there is a consensus that while WebSockets may not completely take over Web Services and REST, there is a paradigm shift going into that direction. Here are a few of the interesting opinions:
Nathan Evans:
The true bi-directional capability offered by WebSockets is a first for any HTTP-borne protocol. It is something that neither SOAP nor REST have. And which Comet/push/long-polling can only emulate, inefficiently. The bi-directional capability is inherently so good that you could tunnel a real-time TCP protocol such as Remote Desktop or VNC over a WebSocket, if you wanted.