REST without hypermedia?

Question

Is REST without the use hypermedia still REST? In other words, is the hypermedia part of the uniform interface constraint of REST required for a true RESTful architecture?

The way I understand it, it is not hypermedia itself that is a constraint of REST but rather the "uniform interface". So could I have a RESTful uniform interface without hypermedia?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 06 '13 at 20:24

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Yes. It's required. The only optional constraint is "code on demand," for example a server linking to Javascript to be executed by the client.

answered Dec 06 '13 at 20:24

Jonathan W

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But it's not hypermedia that is the constraint but "uniform interface" isn't it possible to have a uniform interface without hypermedia? – bitbonk Dec 07 '13 at 06:45
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No. Not the way Fielding defines it. There are four sub-requirements for uniform interface, and HATEOAS is one of them. – Jonathan W Dec 07 '13 at 15:33

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 08 '13 at 06:08

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Hypermedia is certainly one of the constraints in REST. Roy Fielding makes that very clear: http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/rest-apis-must-be-hypertext-driven.

Try also to search for "hypermedia" inside his thesis: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm

This blog post tries to explain the benefits of hypermedia: http://soabits.blogspot.no/2013/12/selling-benefits-of-hypermedia.html (disclaimer: I wrote it).

answered Dec 08 '13 at 06:08

Jørn Wildt

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+1 I can't stress enough how helpful your article about the benefits of hypermedia was. – bitbonk Dec 09 '13 at 12:38

REST without hypermedia?

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