Roy Fielding's Misappropriated REST Dissertation
It&#x27;s not misappropriated, it&#x27;s evolved, just as most things are when others try to use them.<p>Fielding had the notion that the HTTP idea of a few verbs, applied to arbitrary resources, was something to think more broadly about. Others agreed. Over time people decided that for their purposes Fielding&#x27;s requirement of HATEOAS was unnecessary. I wouldn&#x27;t say Fielding was wrong, but instead that others had different ideas of what was more important to them.<p>The key plus of REST is its extreme simplicity <i>if</i> it&#x27;s reasonable to work within those limitations. Sure, REST has limitations. But let&#x27;s compare it to SOAP, its competitor at the time. I would <i>much</i> rather use a REST interface than a SOAP interface in practically all cases, and many others decided the same thing.