Introducing REST

So, what is REST? The acronym stands for Representational State Transfer, and defines client-server interaction in terms of state transitions. Each request from the client is a transition to a new state. The response sent by the server represents the application state after the transition.

Does it sound too complicated? From a theory point of view, you may find it unconventional, especially if you are used to a client/server with a stateful interaction. REST is stateless, and, once you get a general idea, you will discover that it is very simple.

Note

Although REST is commonly thought of as a web interface, it actually is much more. The term REST was defined by Roy T. Fielding-one of the most important people behind HTTP protocol design-in his PhD thesis. REST describes the interaction between clients and servers and does it by abstracting from any protocol. It describes a set of operations that a server has to implement and that a client can use. Of course, in implementations...