Fewer HTTP Verbs

Brett Slatkin suggests that we reduce the number of verbs in HTTP 2.0:

Practically speaking there are only two HTTP verbs: read and write, GET and POST. The semantics of the others (put, head, options, delete, trace, connect) are most commonly expressed in headers, URL parameters, and request bodies, not request methods. The unused verbs are a clear product of bike-shedding, an activity that specification writers love.

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Interestingly, HTTP 1.0 only defined GET, POST, and HEAD back in 1996.

I could get behind the idea of just having GET, POST, and HEAD. In practice these tend to be the safest verbs to use. It would also put an end to having to talk about the semantics of PUT every six months.

Those that insist that all things must be REST or they are useless won’t like this. They could find a way to get over that.