REST: Why use logical URIs?

Question

Other than readability, why would you use logical URIs?

Surely sending a GET request to /users (to get all users) is the same as /users.php

Surely sending POST to /users/dave with some data to update Dave is the same as /users.php?name=dave&phone=1234

You decide what to do based on the HTTP method, and then you pull apart the URI string anyway.

Answer 1

Logical URIs decouple client code from the implementation details of the server-side code. In your /users.php example, .php is an implementation detail. If I publish that URI as an endpoint, clients will depend on that specific PHP script. I won't be able to switch to a Java or .NET implementation without changing client code. (Or I'd have to do some really unsavory remappings on the server.)