In a previous article, I discussed WOA/ROA (Web/Resource Oriented Architecture) and how frevvo can be used to create Rich Internet Applications.

I’ve been experimenting with creating these rich applications (see these articles) and I really believe that Ajax+REST is the next killer app. I came across this article by Tim Ewald, in which he discusses how he finally gets REST. As mentioned in the article, a RESTful application is part of the web rather than running on top of the web (hypermedia as the engine of application state). Like the general web, the application is a set of states traversed via URIs (each state contains links (URIs) to other states that can be reached from itself).

Users interact with these RESTful applications using the familiar browser. In practice, most real applications boil down to CRUD operations on documents (resources) which maps perfectly to REST. What’s missing is an easy way to interact with these documents using Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). That’s where Ajax comes in – it puts a “face” on REST and makes it possible to create complex, visual, browser-based applications without compromising any of the principles of REST.

Just imagine replicating the mashup phenomenon within your company – even just within the IT department. It’s so cool to think that people can really start taking advantage of this. That’s where frevvo comes in. Suddenly, it’s really easy to create a Web 2.0, Ajax-based RIA that mashes up all these RESTful services and to do so at lightning speed and very low cost. frevvo is perfectly complementary to REST: it uses nothing but HTTP, POX and JSON. frevvo forms can easily interact with your REST services. Got a schema for your XML? frevvo can create the entire form for you automatically. Want business rules, fancy layouts, a rich user experience? We’ve got you covered.

REST web applications can finally be paired up with a rich, Ajax-based client to create Rich Internet Applications.