REST Web Services Characteristics

Client- Server: a pull based interaction style: consuming components pull representtaions.
Stateless: each request from client to server smust contain all the information necessary to understand the request, and cannot take advantage of any stored contect on the server.
Cache:to impreove network efficiency responses must be capable of being labeled as cacheable or non-cacheable.
Uniform interface: all resources are accessed with a generic interface(http get, post, put, delete)
Named resources -- the system is comprised of resources which are names using a URL.
interconnected resource representations -- the representations of the resources are interconnected using URLs, thereby enabling a client to progress from one state to another.
Layered componens-- intermediaries, such as proxy servers, cache servers, gateways, etc, can be inserted between clients and resources to support performance, security, etc.