Hacker News Reader

Comment by talaketu | Hacker News Reader

REST endpoints typically return data I don't need. For example, the twitter REST API `/1.1/users/show.json?screen_name=twitterdev` it will show me the last tweet for the user. Presumably this involves perhaps waiting for tweet service when the client may not even want the tweet. A GraphQL client can be more explicit about what edges to select.

View on HN

There are specs like jsonapi that solve this problem. I’ve never been entirely convinced that GraphQL is better than actual REST, even if it’s better than most of the APIs people call RESTful

JSON:API provides some of the same functionality as GraphQL, like specifying which fields and nested resources you want, but at that point you’re going to have the same problems with ensuring good performance with any combination of included fields and relationships.

I don’t disagree: I tend to find REST + openapi codegen a more compelling developer experience then yet another query DSL.

> even if it’s better than most of the APIs people call RESTful

I feel your pain.

Yes, the advantage of a GraphQL endpoint is you can ask for a variety of things and the tradeoff is potential performance issues for unforeseen queries doing N+1s or something.

If you control the API and know all the use cases for a REST endpoint, the advantage is predictable performance characteristics and the tradeoff is flexibility.

It all depends on what you need (and maybe what tools you're using to mitigate GraphQL resolver problems).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com