RESTFUL服务的定义和限制

Question

I currently have an c#.net app that is communicating with another c#.net app. One is installed on client and the other is installed on the server. They are both binded in socket using tcp connection. When the client requests a resource, the server returns the requested resource in JSON format. I keep hearing in other forums that REST requires HTTP. However, I am not using HTTP here.. Does this mean that I am not using REST as well? even though my application is stateless? If not, What do you formally call this communication?

Answer 1

REST is protocol-independent, per the Fielding Dissertation that defined it. You can have systems which employ the REST architectural style over non-HTTP protocols.

The Representational State Transfer (REST) style is an abstraction of the architectural elements within a distributed hypermedia system. REST ignores the details of component implementation and protocol syntax in order to focus on the roles of components, the constraints upon their interaction with other components, and their interpretation of significant data elements. It encompasses the fundamental constraints upon components, connectors, and data that define the basis of the Web architecture, and thus the essence of its behavior as a network-based application.

Please note that statelessness does not mean it is REST. You still need a hypermedia-driven system written around resources.