What is Representational state transfer?
'''REST''' ('''RE'''presentational '''S'''tate '''T'''ransfer) is a [[software architectural style]] that was created to guide the design and development of the architecture for the [[World Wide Web]]. REST has been used to create many scalable, reliable [[web application|web-based applications]]. An application that follows the REST architectural style can be described as ''RESTful''. REST describes a way for computer systems ([[Client-server|clients and servers]]) to communicate with each other. Clients do not need to know anything about the server but can instead discover what information is available by querying the server. For example, a [[web browser]] (a client) used to read the [[New York Times]] can discover more content by clicking on the [[link]]s in the [[webpage]] returned by the server. The ability to discover what information the server has to offer is a central part of the REST architectural style. Web clients and servers communicate using the [[HTTP]] protocol. Web content is delivered to clients as [[HTML]] documents that contain more links ([[URL]]s) that allow more content to be discovered. HTTP, HTML and URL are the three [[Program specification | standards]] that together implement the REST architectural style in the World Wide Web. == Other websites == * [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP Mozilla Developer Network HTTP] * [https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/ Wikimedia REST API] [[Category:Internet protocols]]