What is REST?

REST = REpresentational State Transfer

Described by Roy Fielding in 2000

It's a architectural philosophy or style

REST as a Set of Constraints

Client-Server

• Client initiated
• Separation of concerns

Stateless

• Server doesn't hold state
• Scalable

Cacheable

• Implicitly or Explicitly
• Transparent

Uniform Interface

• Generic

Layered

• You don't know exactly who your talking to
• Scalable

Code-on-demand?

• Optional
• Meant to make clients simpler?

A Good Example

The Campfire API (37signals)

Authorization

via a Token

                            $ curl -u <token> https://sample.campfire.com/

A Collection

Rooms

                            GET /rooms.xml
                        

A Resource

A specific room

                            GET /room/<id>.xml
                        

Changing State

Joining a room

                            POST /room/<id>/join.xml
                        

Un-starring a message

                        DELETE /messages/<id>/star.xml