ApacheCon Session
A Little REST and Relaxation
Representational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural style that I developed while improving the core Web protocols (URI, HTTP, and HTML) and leading them through the IETF standardization process. I later described REST as the primary example in my dissertation. Since then, REST has been used (and sometimes abused) by many people throughout the world as a source of guidance for Web application design. But is the REST that we hear about today the same as what I defined in my dissertation, or has it taken on the baggage that comes with an industry buzzword? This talk will provide a real introduction to REST and the design goals behind its evolution as the Web's arhitectural style. This is not about XML-over-HTTP as an alternative to SOAP, nor about "resource-oriented" frameworks that help simplify CRUD operations, but rather about the design goals and trade-offs that influence the development of network-based applications. I will also describe what happens when we relax some of the REST constraints, and how such relaxation is impacting the design of the waka protocol as a replacement for HTTP.
