What is REST?

- (REpresentational State Transfer) A model for web services based solely on HTTP. REST takes the view that the Web already has everything necessary for web services, without having to add extra specifications like SOAP and UDDI. Any item can be made available (ie represented) at a URI, and, subject to the necessary permissions, it can be manipulated using one of the simple operations defined within HTTP (GET to retrieve information, PUT and POST to modify it, DELETE to remove it). Restians argue that retaining this very simple semantic structure is the best way of preserving interoperability between all Web participants.

- REST (representational state transfer) is an approach for getting information content from a Web site by reading a designated Web page that contains an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file that describes and includes the desired content. For example, REST could be used by an online publisher to make syndicated content available. Periodically, the publisher would prepare and activate a Web page that included content and XML statements that described the content. Subscribers would need only to know the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for the page where the XML file was located, read it with a Web browser, interpret the content data using the XML information, and reformat and use it appropriately (perhaps in some form of online publication).