dretblog

JSON Schema: Why and How

Prompted by a thread on the IETF's JSON WG mailing list, I find myself wondering (again) why the current JSON landscape does not have an established schema language, and what it would take to change that. There is a long-expired... Read more →

Patterns for Robust Extensibility

Extensibility is key to creating APIs that not only work initially, but that also can evolve in terms of being appropriated for different contexts, and/or evolving over time. Extensibility is not the only pattern that robust and evolvable APIs should... Read more →

Uploading Routes to Garmin fēnix 3 (or: #letmeusemydata)

One problem described recently is how to get useful track and waypoint information out of Garmin's rather closed world. The other direction can be equally tricky, by which I mean how to get tracks and waypoints onto the device to... Read more →

How to Create and Use Waypoints with Garmin Devices (or: #givememydata)

Imagine you are hiking or walking and you are using a GPS to record your track. Modern devices such as Garmin's watches allow you to "Save Locations" along the way, which can be a handy way to mark some kind... Read more →

A JSON Format for GPS Data on the Web

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has revolutionized many things, and has become an integral part of many mobile computing scenarios. Also, it has become essential for many outdoor and sports enthusiast, or simply fitness-interested people, by using GPS-enabled wearables (such... Read more →

JSON or RDF? Just Decide

A little while ago (almost three years), Mark Nottingham wrote his excellent article JSON or XML? Just Decide, and it seems that it's time to update that a little. But it also is a good opportunity to put it in... Read more →

Future-Proofing REST Clients

one of the important value propositions of REST is loose coupling, which is a notoriously fuzzy terms that means different things to different people, even though one can a least try to look at it in a slightly discplined way.... Read more →

REST Layers and REST Applications

there has been a rather long history of people trying to describe REST applications, and an equally long history of responses saying that it cannot be done, should not be done, and that REST is allow about following your nose... Read more →

Atom Content Negotiation

media types are an important part of web architecture, and they even have (some) structure; the very obvious type/subtype syntax, and the maybe not as obvious "+" convention in types such as application/atom+xml. however, while that allows you to expose... Read more →

Web Linking

one of the main components of REST is linking (modeling applications as hypermedia, i.e. interconnected resources), and more specifically, typed linking, where a link not only specifies where it links to (in web-oriented systems this is always done using URIs),... Read more →