REST是REpresentational State Transfer表述性状态转移 的首字母缩写。它是分布式超媒体系统的架构风格，最初由Roy Fielding在2000年的著名论文中提出。

指导原则

1. 客户端 - 服务器 - 通过将用户接口问题与数据存储问题分开，我们通过简化服务器组件来提高跨多个平台的用户接口的可移植性并提高可伸缩性。 Client–server – By separating the user interface concerns from the data storage concerns, we improve the portability of the user interface across multiple platforms and improve scalability by simplifying the server components.
2. 无状态 - 从客户端到服务器的每个请求都必须包含理解请求所需的所有信息，并且不能利用服务器上任何存储的上下文。因此，会话状态完全保留在客户端上。 Stateless – Each request from client to server must contain all of the information necessary to understand the request, and cannot take advantage of any stored context on the server. Session state is therefore kept entirely on the client.
3. 可缓存 - 缓存约束要求将对请求的响应中的数据隐式或显式标记为可缓存或不可缓存。如果响应是可缓存的，则客户端缓存有权重用该响应数据以用于以后的等效请求。Cacheable – Cache constraints require that the data within a response to a request be implicitly or explicitly labeled as cacheable or non-cacheable. If a response is cacheable, then a client cache is given the right to reuse that response data for later, equivalent requests.
4. 统一接口 - 通过将通用性的软件工程原理应用于组件接口，简化了整个系统架构，提高了交互的可见性。为了获得统一的接口，需要多个架构约束来指导组件的行为。REST由四个接口约束定义：资源识别; 通过陈述来处理资源; 自我描述性的信息; 并且，超媒体作为应用程序状态的引擎。Uniform interface – By applying the software engineering principle of generality to the component interface, the overall system architecture is simplified and the visibility of interactions is improved. In order to obtain a uniform interface, multiple architectural constraints are needed to guide the behavior of components. REST is defined by four interface constraints: identification of resources; manipulation of resources through representations; self-descriptive messages; and, hypermedia as the engine of application state.
5. 分层系统 - 分层系统风格允许通过约束组件行为来使体系结构由分层层组成，这样每个组件都不能“看到”超出与它们交互的直接层。Layered system – The layered system style allows an architecture to be composed of hierarchical layers by constraining component behavior such that each component cannot “see” beyond the immediate layer with which they are interacting.
6. 按需编码（可选） - REST允许通过以小程序或脚本的形式下载和执行代码来扩展客户端功能。这通过减少预先实现所需的功能数量来简化客户端。Code on demand (optional) – REST allows client functionality to be extended by downloading and executing code in the form of applets or scripts. This simplifies clients by reducing the number of features required to be pre-implemented.