REST Protocol verses native Torque 3D

#1 Reading the wikipedia entry (which you should have posted, as I wasn't familiar with the term), REST isn't a protocol, it's a software architecture style. Also REST basically describes how the WWW works in general: clients make requests to servers, and said requests contain the client's state, which isn't stored in the server, and the response can be cached, etc, etc.

Well, that's not how Torque works at all. Clients maintain an active connection to the servers, and both are constantly sending each other data. Clients transmit moves, servers transmit ghost updates (and move ACKs) and both can transmit net events (and the respective ACKs). Each active client is represented on the server via a GameConnection object, which needs either an associated control object or camera object to be able to receive the ghost updates.

#2 I will sound like a snob saying this, but comparing REST to Torque's networking is like comparing a bicycle to a sports car. They are barely in the same category.

#3 Or, to put it like this: There are at least two protocols between you and TCP/IP if you use a RESTful method of communication (not to mention a potential N magnitude increase of translation of data ;).

And no, Ben, that is not snobbish at all :)

#4 Thanks for all the feedback, however, none of you actually answered the question. I saw no need to provide a link as if you don't know what it is, then you would not be able to answer the question.

Quote:Clients maintain an active connection to the servers

Actually, this is not completely true. "Torque has elected to build on top of the UDP protocol." - http://tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/TorqueNetworking

Here is a link to the definition of protocol: "Computers. a set of rules governing the format of messages that are exchanged between computers." - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/protocol

Using a restful interface, which by the way is very much defined with .NET 4.0 WCF and today's cloud computing is by definition a protocol. Granted it is a higher level protocol, but a protocol none the less.

Quote:comparing a bicycle to a sports car

Every application has different requirements. Tic Tac Toe could use a bicycle.


So to repeat the question, has anyone tried to use a restful interface as a transport layer for Torque? We have successfully using XNA, but wanted to get other's thoughts. Why you ask? With many companies starting to block UDP traffic due to DoS and other attacks, combined with faster network bandwidths, faster processors, and cloud computing - may signal the need to start thinking about a TCP-based solution.

#5 The main problem with a RESTful interface is the requirement for it to be stateless - this doesn't sit happily with multiplayer games where client state needs to be persisted on the server for interaction purposes. For some games REST is fine, but in general, no.

As already pointed out, REST is an architecture, not a protocol.