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Writing a small internal presentation on REST, I got a little curious..
I know the WWW is the largest implementation of REST, and that REST was defined alongside HTTP 1.1, but are there any other implementations of the architectural style, besides HTTP?
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REST APIs add no new capability to HTTP APIs. But it is an architectural style that was created in tandem with HTTP and most typically employs HTTP as its application layer protocol. However, REST isn't always linked to HTTP. You can use other transfer protocols, such as FTP, SMTP, etc.
REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer. REST is almost like an architectural style, it doesn't care about the building materials per say. It can be used with HTTP, FTP, or any other communication protocol. REST just happens to be very commonly used with HTTP.
It's important to remember that the use of HTTP is not required for a RESTful system.
Thinking of magic triangle of REST:
I can only see protocols or tools which take some of the principles but not all of them.
E.g. SQL has a uninform interface (DELETE,SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE) and kind of nouns (table + columns) but hasn't the representation part in its core (e.g. no way to say 'SELECT .... AS application/xml'.
As far as I have seen, HTTP is the "best" example implementing Rest-principles. To me HTTP is a perfect example how simplicity and powerfulness come together.
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