Herding Code 103: Seb Lambla on OpenEverything

In this episode of Herding Code, the guys talk with “self-congratulatory, self-proclaimed, egotistical doofus” Sebastien Lambla about OpenRasta, OpenWrap and Open Web Interface for .NET (OWIN.)

  • K Scott kicks off the show asking Seb about his most popular OSS project – OpenRasta provides the 30 second elevator pitch and touches on his web framework which embraces HTTP through composition-based programming and facilitates the development of both JSON/XML services and webpage using the same fluent APIs.
  • K Scott asks Seb about OpenRasta Resources, Handlers and Codecs (oh my) and Seb outlines the four (yes, 4) main components of MVC, content negotiation and browser fun.
  • Scott K and Seb talk about the OpenRasta plug-in model and dig into pipeline contributors, operation interceptors and the full-flexibility of the OpenRasta composition framework.
  • Jon speaks of service location which are new to MVC3.
  • Jon asks Seb for his opinion on WCF Web APIs and how they compare to OpenRasta. 
  • The guys talk about the distinction between the Microsoft Web and WCF frameworks and consider the creation of web services through .ASMX vs WCF.
  • Seb explains Easy, Simple and Intuitive in the context of existing frameworks and APIs.
  • Kevin asks about resource-oriented thinking in the .NET community. Seb response with talk of the slow adoption of RESTful architecture and poor education offered by vendors.
  • K Scott asks Seb when/why he started becoming passionate about REST and Seb shares his and OpenRasta’s story.
  • Through the magic of Twitter, John Sheehan asks if there are any plans to develop a OpenRasta Client. Don’t worry – RestSharp is safe for now.
  • Kevin asks a second question! Does OpenRasta do anything with hypermedia? Seb speaks of generating links and advanced links and forms (i.e. Hypermedia Controls) in OpenRasta.
  • Before the conversation shifts to OpenWrap, Jon asks about Seb’s thoughts on OData and it not really being RESTful. Seb offers his option and notes his NDC presentation which brings light to all that is wrong with OData.
  • The conversation shifts to OpenWrap, a package management system for .NET. Seb provides a quick overview of the project and what it offers.
  • The guys discuss the release of NuGet and the collaboration (or not) with the Nu and OpenWrap folks during development.
  • The guys further talk about the various package management systems and the pros and cons around having more than one solution (with slightly different focuses) in the .NET space. Jon compares the situation to that of Entity Framework and NHibernate both coming to market. Seb talks about productivity.
  • Seb talks about dogfooding and building and deploying a package manager with the package manager.
  • Seb walks the guys through the typical workflow experience when using OpenWrap.
  • Seb explains what a symbol servers (specifically SymbolSource.org) offer and how it is to be integration with OpenWrap.
  • Seb provides an overview of OWIN (Open Web Interface for .NET) which defines a standard interface between .NET web servers and web applications.
  • The show wraps with Seb pimping his upcoming talks on OpenWrap and OpenRasta at QCon London.

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Show notes compiled by Ben Griswold. Thanks!

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Herding Code 103: Seb Lambla on OpenEverything

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