Data elements

When you select a hyperlink where data needs to be transferred from the server to the client, the client needs to interpret the data and render it into a format to the user. How does the REST principle do this? The REST components transfer the data as well as the metadata to the client, with instructions to help the client compose the resource that it has requested:

Data element

Modern web examples

Resource

The intended conceptual target of a hypertext reference

Resource identifier

URL, URN

Representation

HTML document, JPEG image

Representation metadata

Media type, last modified time

Resource metadata

Source link, alternates, vary

Control data

If-modified-since, cache control