RESTperiaatteisiin

RESTperiaatteisiin is a Finnish term that translates to "REST principles" or "principles of REST." REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style for designing networked applications. It is not a protocol or a standard, but rather a set of constraints that, when followed, lead to systems that are scalable, maintainable, and performant.

The core principles of REST include statelessness, client-server architecture, cacheability, a uniform interface, layered system, and code-on-demand (optional). Statelessness means that each request from a client to a server must contain all the information necessary to understand and fulfill the request. The server should not store any client context between requests. The client-server separation allows for independent evolution of the client and server components. Cacheability enables responses to be labeled as cacheable or non-cacheable, allowing clients to reuse data, thus improving performance. A uniform interface simplifies the overall architecture and improves visibility. This includes identification of resources, manipulation of resources through representations, self-descriptive messages, and hypermedia as the engine of application state (HATEOAS). A layered system architecture allows for the introduction of intermediaries, such as load balancers or gateways, without affecting the client or server. Code-on-demand is an optional constraint that allows servers to extend client functionality by transferring executable code.

Adherence to RESTperiaatteisiin is fundamental for building robust and efficient web services. These principles promote loose coupling and enable a wide range of applications and services to communicate effectively over the internet.