What is REST?
REST is an architectural style, or set of conventions, for web applications and services that centers itself around resource manipulation and the HTTP spec. Web apps have traditionally ignored the HTTP spec and moved forward using a subset of the protocol: GET and POST, 200 OKs and 404 NOT FOUNDs. As we entered a programmable web of applications with APIs the decision to ignore HTTP gave us problems we’re still dealing with today. We have an internet full of applications with different interfaces (GET /user/1/delete vs. POST /user/delete {id=1}). With REST we can say /user/1 is a resource and use the HTTP DELETE verb to delete it. For more detail on REST check out wikipedia and “quick pitch“.

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