{"id":1798,"date":"2011-08-15T13:20:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T13:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/representational-state-transfer\/"},"modified":"2018-02-02T11:09:30","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T11:09:30","slug":"representational-state-transfer","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest","title":{"rendered":"Representational State Transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_representational_state_transfer_mean\">What Does Representational State Transfer Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Representational state transfer (REST) is a distributed system framework that uses Web protocols and technologies. The REST architecture involves client and server interactions built around the transfer of resources. The Web is the largest REST implementation.<\/p>\n<p>Systems that conform to REST principles are referred to as RESTful.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_representational_state_transfer\">Techopedia Explains Representational State Transfer<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Roy Fielding, one of the main authors of the HTTP specification, developed the REST concept in 2000 as part of his doctoral dissertation.<\/p>\n<p>REST may be used to capture website data through interpreting extensible markup language (XML) Web page files with the desired data. In addition, online publishers use REST when providing syndicated content to users by activating Web page content and XML statements. Users may access the Web page through the website&#039;s URL, read the XML file with a Web browser, and interpret and use data as needed.<\/p>\n<p>Basic REST constraints include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Client and Server: The client and server are separated from REST operations through a uniform interface, which improves client code portability.<\/li>\n<li>Stateless: Each client request must contain all required data for request processing without storing client context on the server.<\/li>\n<li>Cacheable: Responses (such as Web pages) can be cached on a client computer to speed up Web Browsing. Responses are defined as cacheable or not cacheable to prevent clients from reusing stale or inappropriate data when responding to further requests.<\/li>\n<li>Layered System: Enables clients to connect to the end server through an intermediate layer for improved scalability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Representational State Transfer Mean? Representational state transfer (REST) is a distributed system framework that uses Web protocols and technologies. The REST architecture involves client and server interactions built around the transfer of resources. The Web is the largest REST implementation. Systems that conform to REST principles are referred to as RESTful. Techopedia Explains [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[230],"class_list":["post-1798","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-privacy-and-compliance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Representational State Transfer (REST)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Representational State Transfer and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Representational State Transfer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Representational State Transfer and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-02T11:09:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Representational State Transfer\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-15T13:20:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-02T11:09:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest\"},\"wordCount\":251,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1312\/representational-state-transfer-rest\",\"name\":\"What is Representational State Transfer (REST)? 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