2. • Representational State Transfer
– URL = object
– HTTP GET to query an object
– HTTP POST, PUT or DELETE to modify object
• Goals:
– Scalability of component interactions
– Generality of interfaces
– Independent deployment of components
What is REST?
3. • REST is platform and language independent
• REST is light-weight
– Not a lot of XML markup. 10x less amount of data.
– SOAP wraps each request and response.
– Concise, no need for additional messaging layer.
• Human readable results
• No toolkits required, easy to work with
• REST reads are cache-able, SOAP’s aren’t
REST vs SOAP
4. • If need be, functionality can be formally and
properly defined
– Outline input parameters and output data.
• Otherwise a simple human readable definition
would do!
WSDL compatible
5. • SOAP sending RPC calls through HTTP ports is
a major security loophole
– Admins and firewalls should be able to discern
intent of HTTP messages.
• REST follows philosophy of the WWW
– Hypertext documents linked together and
accessible via the Internet.
Security
