Web Service -- REST

What is REST

• a design pattern for implementing networked systems, stands for "Representational State Transfer"
• A client references a web resources using a URL
• The web serves as a guiding framework for the web
• HTTP is not just a protocol
• It provides an API (POST, GET, PUT, DELETE) for create, read, update, and delete operations on a resource
• Approach isolates application complexity at the end points (client and server) and keeps it out of the transport

Three Fundamental Aspects of REST

• Resources
• Every distinguishable entity is a resource. A resource may be a web site, an HTML page, and XML document etc.
• URLs
• Every resource is uniquely identified by a URL.
• Simple operations

REST vs. SOAP

REST

• The web is the universe of globally accessible information
• Resource oriented
• User-driven interactions via forms
• Few operations (generic interface) on many resources
• URI: Consistent naming mechanism for resources
• Focus on scalability and performance of large scale distributed hypermedia systems

SOAP

• The web is the universal transport of message
• Activity/Service oriented
• Orchestrated reliable event flows
• Many operations (service interface) on few resources
• Lack of standard naming mechanism
• Focus on design of integrated (distributed) applications