Article:		Show Me the Code
Subject:		Why PUT vs. POST?
Date:		2005-03-04 07:30:41
From:		velebak
When updating bookmarks, you specify using PUT for a single but POST for a collection. What benefit does PUT bring, and wouldn't a POST work just as well? Thanks, Keith Veleba

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• Why PUT vs. POST?
  2005-03-04 22:23:28 Mike Dierken [Reply]
  
  A PUT request is idempotent - it can be repeated and the client can be sure of the results. A POST has no such guarantee - it could append some text, and doing that twice results in something different than doing it once.

  
  The benefit of repeatable requests is that if the network goes down, or a reply doesn't reach the client, your software can simply send the request again - the system as a whole becomes tolerant of failures.

  
  In the example, the collection could be replace with a PUT, but that's a design choice of the developer.
  
  

  • Why PUT vs. POST?
    2005-03-05 07:34:05 velebak [Reply]
    
    That makes sense, I guess it's all in how your application code handles PUT and POST operations. I was thinking too far down in the code again. Thanks for the clarification!

    
    Keith