diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'guide/rest_principles.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | guide/rest_principles.md | 32 |
1 files changed, 17 insertions, 15 deletions
diff --git a/guide/rest_principles.md b/guide/rest_principles.md index ebdbb79..29198ee 100644 --- a/guide/rest_principles.md +++ b/guide/rest_principles.md @@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ REST architecture ----------------- REST is a *client-server* architecture. The client and the server -both have a different set of concerns. The client cares about how -it will display information to the user. The server cares about -how to store that information and how to make it available to -users efficiently. This separation of concerns allows both the -client and the server to evolve independently as it only requires -that the interface stays the same. +both have a different set of concerns. The server stores and/or +manipulates information and makes it available to the user in +an efficient manner. The client takes that information and +displays it to the user and/or use it to perform subsequent +requests for information. This separation of concerns allows both +the client and the server to evolve independently as it only +requires that the interface stays the same. REST is *stateless*. That means the communication between the client and the server always contains all the information needed @@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ Resources and resource identifiers ---------------------------------- A resource is an abstract concept. In a REST system, any information -that can be named can be a resource. This includes documents, images, +that can be named may be a resource. This includes documents, images, a collection of resources and any other information. Any information that can be the target of an hypertext link can be a resource. @@ -87,15 +88,16 @@ Resource representations The representation of a resource is a sequence of bytes associated with metadata. -The metadata comes as a list of key-value pairs, where the name is +The metadata comes as a list of key-value pairs, where the name corresponds to a standard that defines the value's structure and -semantics. In HTTP the metadata comes in the form of HTTP headers -which are well defined by the HTTP standard. Metadata includes -representation metadata, resource metadata and control data. - -The representation metadata gives additional information about -the representation, such as its media type, the last date of -modification, or even an Etag. +semantics. With HTTP, the metadata comes in the form of request +or response headers. The headers' structure and semantics are well +defined in the HTTP standard. Metadata includes representation +metadata, resource metadata and control data. + +The representation metadata gives information about the +representation, such as its media type, the date of last +modification, or even a checksum. Resource metadata could be link to related resources or information about additional representations of the resource. |