Understanding the Distinction: REST vs. HTTP
REST (Representational State Transfer) and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) are closely related concepts, but they are not the same thing. While REST is an architectural style that defines a set of constraints and principles, HTTP is a concrete protocol with a well-defined set of rules and methods for how requests and responses should be formatted and transmitted over the network. It means that HTTP != REST. Here’s an explanation of why they are distinct.
Scope and Purpose:
REST is an architectural style that defines a set of constraints and principles for designing networked applications. It is a broader concept that outlines how distributed systems should be structured and how clients and servers should interact. REST emphasizes concepts such as resources, representations, statelessness, and a uniform interface.
HTTP, on the other hand, is a specific application protocol that follows the principles of REST. It is a protocol used for communication between clients (such as web browsers) and servers (where web resources are hosted). HTTP is just one implementation of the REST architectural style.
Protocol vs. Architecture:
REST is an architectural style that provides high-level guidelines and constraints for designing distributed systems. It doesn’t prescribe a specific protocol; rather, it can be implemented using various communication protocols, including HTTP, MQTT, CoAP, and others.
HTTP is a concrete protocol with a well-defined set of rules and methods for how requests and responses should be formatted and transmitted over the network. It is a specific implementation of the REST architecture.
Use Beyond the Web:
REST principles can be applied beyond web-based applications. They can be used in various distributed systems, including IoT (Internet of Things), cloud computing, and microservices.
HTTP is primarily used for web communication. While it’s versatile and widely used on the web, it’s not the only protocol that adheres to REST principles.
Statelessness:
REST emphasizes statelessness, meaning that each request from a client to a server must contain all the information needed to understand and process that request. The server should not rely on any previous requests or store client-specific state.
HTTP itself is stateless, adhering to the REST constraint. Each HTTP request from a client to a server is independent and contains all necessary information. However, applications built on top of HTTP (e.g., web applications) might maintain state through mechanisms like cookies and sessions, but this is not inherent to the HTTP protocol.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, REST is an architectural style that provides high-level guidelines for designing distributed systems, emphasizing principles like statelessness and a uniform interface. HTTP is a specific protocol that can be used to implement RESTful architectures, but REST can be applied with other protocols as well. While HTTP is a common choice for RESTful web services, they are conceptually distinct.
Happy reading and happy coding!
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