REST - Creativyst(R) Glossary of developer terms.

Representational State Transfer - A software and digital communications architecture that supports the development of pan-platform application programs, which run on servers and browsers over a network, such as the Internet. It describes the architecture that is, in essence, the architecture of the World Wide Web.

The glossary application that provides this page, for example, uses the REST architecture.

REST moves all the state required for the next set of possible choices into the client (the browser). What this means is that all the state needed to do anything you can do from this page (the "state") was downloaded into this page when it was transferred to the browser. The links to other terms, for example, are complete and contain everything that is necessary to cause the browser to request those definitions from the underlying glossary program.

While REST was first implemented and used when the Internet was created in 1974 (RFC 675, also 1980:RFCs 760 and 761), the REST concept was first codified and named in a dissertation by Dr. Roy Thomas Fielding in 2000 titled: Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures

A newer standard called SOAP is a replacement for REST that is designed to move data over the Web between proprietary form and document layout platforms (presentation platforms) as well as servers.

Many believe REST, though older, is technically more complete and open than SOAP, because it only requires a Web browser as its presentation platform. Also, newer SOAP standards require patented propietary technology, while REST does not.

In this respect, REST's greatest advantage may also be its biggest disadvantage. Because its presentation layer is a browser, it does nothing to shield the makers of proprietary form/document layout platforms from obsolescence. In this respect it may be taking on more and bigger adversaries than it will be able to overcome.

The good news is, it has had a 15-20 year head start. :-)

For more information about REST:

	Representational State Transfer - A software and digital communications architecture that supports the development of pan-platform application programs, which run on servers and browsers over a network, such as the Internet. It describes the architecture that is, in essence, the architecture of the World Wide Web. The glossary application that provides this page, for example, uses the REST architecture. REST moves all the state required for the next set of possible choices into the client (the browser). What this means is that all the state needed to do anything you can do from this page (the "state") was downloaded into this page when it was transferred to the browser. The links to other terms, for example, are complete and contain everything that is necessary to cause the browser to request those definitions from the underlying glossary program. While REST was first implemented and used when the Internet was created in 1974 (RFC 675, also 1980:RFCs 760 and 761), the REST concept was first codified and named in a dissertation by Dr. Roy Thomas Fielding in 2000 titled: Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures A newer standard called SOAP is a replacement for REST that is designed to move data over the Web between proprietary form and document layout platforms (presentation platforms) as well as servers. Many believe REST, though older, is technically more complete and open than SOAP, because it only requires a Web browser as its presentation platform. Also, newer SOAP standards require patented propietary technology, while REST does not. In this respect, REST's greatest advantage may also be its biggest disadvantage. Because its presentation layer is a browser, it does nothing to shield the makers of proprietary form/document layout platforms from obsolescence. In this respect it may be taking on more and bigger adversaries than it will be able to overcome. The good news is, it has had a 15-20 year head start. :-) For more information about REST: The original dissertation by Roy Thomas Fielding XML Deviant: In a Lather About Security Roger L. Costello's REST Web Services Tutorial Giving SOAP a REST
	SOAP LAMP