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.
To be fair, there are plenty of people who appreciate REST in some respects, but ultimately do not see the significance or value of HATEOAS. This approach to RESTful APIs is often referred to as pragmatic REST. RESTful APIs that emphasize HATEOAS is sometimes referred to as purist REST (perhaps derisively by non-purist developers). This article from Ben Morris represents a well reasoned argument against the necessity of HATEOAS, although we suggest that in some ways it indirectly advocates the need to engage HATEOAS. While we agree that HATEOAS is important (and our reasons will be documented below), we believe each developer should make up their own mind on the matter and decide early on whether HATEOAS will be a normal part of the API or not. This is why the SRP HTTP Framework does not enforce HATEOAS implementation but it does provide tools to make this relatively easy.
