 - 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).
As described in a dissertation by Roy Fielding, REST is an "architectural style" that basically exploits the existing technology and protocols of the Web, including HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and XML. REST is simpler to use than the well-known SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) approach, which requires writing or using a provided server program (to serve data) and a client program (to request data). SOAP, however, offers potentially more capability. For example, a syndicator that wanted to include up-to-date stock prices to subscribing Web sites might need to use SOAP, which allows a greater amount of program interaction between client and server.
REST is consistent with an information publishing approach that a number of Web log sites use to describe some aspects of their site content, called RDF Site Summary (RSS). RSS uses the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a standard way to describe a Web site or other Internet resource.
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14 May 2002
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