REST APIs and the Return of the Console App
Channel: Linux.conf.au 2015 -- Auckland, New Zealand
Date: 16/01/2015

James Blair
http://lca2015.linux.org.au/schedule/30087/view_talk
Text-based interfaces are great for working with, well, text!  We talk
to each other in text-based IRC clients.  We run compilers and the
programs we write from text-based terminals.  We write code in
text-based editors.  Some of us even read our email there too.  But
increasingly, developer tools are showing up on the web.

A recent trend for web applications to have fully separate REST-based
"backend" systems that are in turn used by "frontend" Javascript
applications has not only freed Javascript developers to write more
expressive applications, but has the unexpected side benefit of
freeing users to create their own preferred interface to tools they
commonly use.

In this presentation, the author will introduce Gertty, a new
console-based interface for the (web-based) Gerrit code review system
and use it to demonstrate the advantages of applications developed
with fully-featured REST interfaces.  We will talk about the
challenges of developing a "secondary" interface, the unique
environment of a console app, and the surprising benefits of not being
tied to the web.