Why is HATEOAS important?

In our What is REST? article we focused on a few of the important constraints of REST that are relevant to the SRP HTTP Framework. When discussing the Uniform Interface constraint, we provided an introduction to the concept of Hypermedia As The Engine Of Application State (or HATEOAS for short). In our summary of the concept of HATEOAS, we emphasized its importance but suggested the reader visit this page to understand why HATEOAS is important.