Architectural goals of REST

The REST architectural style brings a set of properties that help to establish the design goals that are embedded in the application of REST constraints. These properties are as follows:

• Performance
• Scalability
• Simplicity
• Modifiability
• Visibility
• Portability
• Reliability
• Testability

The preceding properties signify a target state of software architecture and fundamental qualities of the WWW. Adhering to REST constraints in design decisions helps to achieve the preceding listed goals, and, of course, these properties can be further improved with more design decisions that are not necessarily parts of REST. However, as quoted in the RESTful services mandate section, a web service, to be called a RESTful service, should adhere to the RESTful constraints.