[lmm]

The useful/valuable part of what came to be called "REST" (very little of which is found in the dissertation, it's an accident of terminology which has lead a lot of people astray) is all about CRUD, because CRUD is the only thing that makes sense to do with a generic "resource".

[icebraining]

POST is used for way, way, way more than any CRUD operation.

[lmm]

Indeed it is, but at that point it's not "REST".

[icebraining]

Why wouldn't it be?

[lmm]

The HTTP verb isn't reflecting what's happening, and likely some important considerations aren't being represented as entities.

[icebraining]

The description of the POST method is very generic; one of its functions detailed in the HTTP spec is:

      - Providing a block of data, such as the result of submitting a
        form, to a data-handling process;

Which fits with much more than mere CRUD. And it's specifically written that it doesn't have to result in the creation of a new URI-addressable resource.

(Also, REST isn't HTTP, you can comply with the former even if you're violating the latter, and vice-versa)

[lmm]

> Also, REST isn't HTTP, you can comply with the former even if you're violating the latter, and vice-versa

Exactly. Complex processing via POSTs instead of distinct URI-addressable resources is HTTP-compliant but not REST-compliant.