What's the difference between REST & RESTful

Question

What\'s the difference between a REST system and a system that is RESTful?

From a few things I\'ve read most so called REST services are actually RESTful services. S

Answer 1

Web services are essentially web sites whose content is consumed by computer programs, not people. REST is a set of architectural principles that stipulate that web services should maximally leverage HTTP and other web standards, so that programs gain all the good stuff that people already can get out of the web. REST is often contrasted with SOAP web services, and other "remote procedure call" oriented web services.

Stefan Tilkov's presentations on REST at Parleys.com are quite good, especially this one.

For a book, you can't get any better than Richardson and Ruby's Restful Web Services.