What exactly is RESTful programming?

Question

What exactly is RESTful programming?

Answer 1

REST === HTTP analogy is not correct until you do not stress to the fact that it "MUST" be HATEOAS driven.

Roy himself cleared it here.

A REST API should be entered with no prior knowledge beyond the initial URI (bookmark) and set of standardized media types that are appropriate for the intended audience (i.e., expected to be understood by any client that might use the API). From that point on, all application state transitions must be driven by client selection of server-provided choices that are present in the received representations or implied by the user’s manipulation of those representations. The transitions may be determined (or limited by) the client’s knowledge of media types and resource communication mechanisms, both of which may be improved on-the-fly (e.g., code-on-demand).

[Failure here implies that out-of-band information is driving interaction instead of hypertext.]