(This dissertation explores a junction on the frontiers of two research disciplines in computer science: softw
are and networking. Software research has long been concerned with the categorization of software desig
ns and the development of design methodologies, but has rarely been able to objectively evaluate the imp
act of various design choices on system behavior. Networking research, in contrast, is focused on the deta
ils of generic communication behavior between systems and improving the performance of particular com
munication techniques, often ignoring the fact that changing the interaction style of an application can ha
ve more impact on performance than the communication protocols used for that interaction. My work is
motivated by the desire to understand and evaluate the architectural design of network-based application
software through principled use of architectural constraints, thereby obtaining the functional, performanc
e, and social properties desired of an architecture. )
二、名称
Fielding将他对互联网软件的架构原则，定名为REST，即Representational State Transfer的缩写。我
对这个词组的翻译是"表现层状态转化"。
如果一个架构符合REST原则，就称它为RESTful架构。
要理解RESTful架构，最好的方法就是去理解Representational State Transfer这个词组到底是什么意思，
它的每一个词代表了什么涵义。如果你把这个名称搞懂了，也就不难体会REST是一种什么样的设计。
