GraphQl/Falcor:
Why Killing REST?

Maxence POUTORD

@_maxpou | maxpou.fr | maxence.poutord@gmail.com

About me


GET /speaker/maxpou HTTP/1.1

{
  "name": "Maxence POUTORD",
  "skills": ["Symfony", "API", "NodeJS", "Software quality"],
  "hobbies": ["motorbike", "cinema (Danish)", "cooking"],
  "job": {
    "job": "web consultant",
    "company": "Conserto"
  },
  "_links": {
    "self": { "href": "maxpou.fr/slides/slides/graphql-falcor-why-killing-rest/" },
    "blog": { "href": "maxpou.fr" },
    "Twitter": { "href": "twitter.com/_maxpou" },
    "mail": { "href": "maxence.poutord@gmail.com" }
  }
}

Disclaimer

I will NOT speak about WHAT, only about WHY

RPC Style

RPC

  • GET /films?view=catalog&mode=premium
  • GET /films?action=watch&titleId=101
  • GET /favourites?action=delete&titleId=42&view=detailMovie

GET/POST whatever...

RPC

    Pros:

  • Low latency
  • Small Messages

    • Cons:

  • Tight coupling
  • Manual Cache Management

Better Call REST!

REST Style


Richardson Maturity Model

Levels 0, 1 and 2

  • Resource unicity
  • Client use HTTP verbs
  • Server use HTTP codes
  • Content negotiation
    Use media types to describe WHAT is expect

Level 3: HATEOAS

  • Hypertext As The Engine Of The Application State
  • Resources are self-describing (discoverability)
    Use links to describe HOW the service is used
  • Hypermedia formats (e.g., HAL, JSON-LD, HYDRA)

Example: HATEOAS (HAL+XML)



  The Hunt
  2012

Requests



  The Hunt
  2012
  
    Mads Mikkelsen
    Thomas Bo Larsen
  1. GET films/12345
    • GET actors/42
    • GET actors/51

3 request to satisfy datas needed by view!

REST

    Pros:

  • cache consistency
    (idempotent/safe HTTP method)
  • loose coupling

    • Cons:

  • Heavier response
  • No "multi-GET"
  • Clients need to understand what links are about
  • ...nobody understand REST!

Autopsy:
How/Why moving away from REST?


By

Falcor approach

“One Model Everywhere”


# Request
GET /model.json?paths=["film.name", "film.year", "film.actor.name"]
      

# Response
{
  user: {
    name: "The Hunt",
    year: 2012,
    actor: [
      {
        "name": "Mads Mikkelsen"
      },
      {
        "name": "Thomas Bo Larsen"
      }
    ]
  }
}

By

GraphQl approach


GET /graphql?query=
{
  film(id: "12345") {
    name,
    year,
    actor: {
      name
    }
  }
}
          

{
  "data": {
    "film": {
      "name": "The Hunt",
      "year": "2012",
      "actor": [
        {
          "name": "Mads Mikkelsen"
        },
        {
          "name": "Thomas Bo Larsen"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

RPC/REST convergence
=> new APIs

RESTFalcorGraphQL
Learning curve~
"Multi-GET"
Message size
Cache management
Languages
Introspection
Possibility
Community

Thank you

Questions?

Credits/Further reading

Events in Nantes

  • "Kill all the REST with falcor" by Hugo WOOD - 12/04/2016 @NantesJUG (tonight, sorry!)
  • "GraphQL spécifier, utiliser et exploiter" by Cédric GILLET & Axel CATELAND - 19/04/2016 @GDGNantes