”Hypertext is text with references (hyperlinks) to other text which the reader can immediately access, or where text can be revealed progressively at multiple levels of detail.”
An Internet media type for the data (JSON, XML, HTML, images, video etc). ! Standard HTTP methods (GET, PUT, POST, or DELETE), with the corresponding semantics. ! Hypertext links to reference state. ! Hypertext links to reference related resources.
A constraint of the REST application architecture that distinguishes it from most other network application architectures Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State
A client interacts with a network application entirely through hypermedia provided dynamically by application servers. ! A client needs no prior knowledge about how to interact with any particular application or server beyond a generic understanding of hypermedia.
By contrast, in a service-oriented architecture (SOA), clients and servers interact through a fixed interface shared through documentation or an interface description language (IDL).
Changes in who can access what. ! Or what state transitions are valid. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! All mistakes related to WHAT url you can request WHEN, they go away.
Most people make the mistake that it should be simple to design simple things. ! In reality, the effort required to design something is inversely proportional to the simplicity of the result.