Sometimes, you can let things slide, but there are other time when terms are just used so incorrectly that it has to be called out. One thing that always gets me is the gross misuse of the term REST. For those who know what REpresentation State Transfer (REST) means then you know that, although the REST architectural style is commonly used with HTTP, it is not bound to any specific protocol.

One of the things that starts my head spinning is seeing how the term “REST” is so often used in place of thing they really mean in order to toss out buzzwords. When I’m involved in technical discussions or read articles on the web, I start to feel like Inigo Montoya when I hear the term “REST”. More often than not, someone is probably referring about HTTP, or even HTTPS, but you can never be too sure. Here’s a few of my favorite statements:

We’ll send it over REST

Oh no you won’t! Given that REST is not a protocol, I find this kind of statement simply mind boggling. One can assume that someone would like to return data over HTTP. However, it is entirely possible to create a RESTful application over other protocols such as XMPP, RMI, or something else. It helps top be specific when you’re involved in a technical discussion.

We’ll make a REST request

Are you sure? What exactly does a REST request look like? If you can’t request data from a URI like rest://example.com/foo, then you’re not making a “REST request.” As stated above, be specific as to what protocol you’re using.

We’ll return it as a REST object

This one pains me more than the other two. Seriously, what kind of “objects” are RESTful? Is is XML, JSON, binary, what? Again, there is no such thing. There are only resources and representations, and it’s the representations of those resources you need to be specific about. What, exactly, are you sending over the wire?

We’ll just add some methods to our REST server

OMFG! For real, a REST server? Even though the Facebook claims to have one of those, it doesn’t make improper use of term valid. You can’t serve “REST,” plain and simple.

Just so that I can continue beating the horse: you can’t send jack over REST. REST is not HTTP and HTTP is not REST. If you have a web API that you’re exposing over HTTP in a RESTful fashion, why can’t it just be called an HTTP Service or API server? Correct use of the term REST is just as important as implementing a RESTful application correctly. Sadly, the same folks who use the term REST incorrectly are also not creating applications can claim to be RESTful.