Editing REST (section)

{{Short description|Architectural style for client-server applications}}
{{Other uses|Rest (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-pc}}

'''REST''' ('''Representational State Transfer''') is a [[software architectural style]] that was created to describe the design and guide the development of the architecture for the [[World Wide Web]]. REST defines a set of constraints for how the architecture of a distributed, [[Internet]]-scale [[hypermedia]] system, such as the Web, should behave. The REST architectural style emphasises uniform [[API|interfaces]], independent deployment of [[Software component|components]], the [[scalability]] of interactions between them, and creating a [[Multitier architecture|layered architecture]] to promote [[caching]] to reduce user-perceived [[latency (engineering)|latency]], enforce [[computer security|security]], and encapsulate [[legacy system]]s.<ref name="Fielding-Ch5">{{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |first=Roy Thomas |last=Fielding |title=Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures |chapter=Chapter 5: Representational State Transfer (REST) |publisher=University of California, Irvine |year=2000 |chapter-url=http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_arch_style.htm |access-date=2004-08-17 |archive-date=2021-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513160155/https://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_arch_style.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

REST has been employed throughout the software industry to create [[stateless protocol|stateless]], reliable [[web application|web-based applications]].  An application that adheres to the [[#Architectural constraints|REST architectural constraints]] may be informally described as ''RESTful'', although this term is more commonly associated with the design of [[HTTP]]-based [[API]]s and what are widely considered best practices regarding the "verbs" ([[Hypertext Transfer Protocol#Request methods|HTTP methods]]) a [[web resource|resource]] responds to, while having little to do with REST as originally formulated—and is often even at odds with the concept.<ref>{{cite web |author=Fielding |first=Roy T. |date=2008-10-20 |title=REST APIs must be hypertext driven |url=http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/rest-apis-must-be-hypertext-driven |url-status=live |access-date=2016-07-06 |publisher=roy.gbiv.com |language=en-US |archive-date=2010-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318060707/http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/rest-apis-must-be-hypertext-driven }}</ref>