Description: REST stands for representational state transfer, and is an architectural style with conventions for servers and clients to communicate with each other. This communication is commonly done through HTTP (HTTP being one of the foundational protocols used for communicating through the Internet).
Requests to a RESTful API start with an HTTP verb (e.g. "GET", "PUT", "POST", "PATCH", "DELETE", etc.) followed by a URL. URLs offered by the API tend to follow a resource-based architecture. Many REST API requests also include request headers and a request body if additional information from the client is needed.
For example, "GET http://my-liquid-handler/methods" could be a request from a client to a liquid handler server to list the server's available methods. The server could respond with text (JSON being the most common format) containing its available methods. "POST http://my-liquid-handler/methods" with a request body detailing a method could be a request to create a new liquid handler method on the server.
Standard Type: Software
Sub-type: Instrument Interface
Governing Body: No formal governance
| Adoption | Maturity | Complexity | Need/Market Size | User Popularity | Coverage | Vendor Support | Activity |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
