Formalization and automated verification of RESTful behavior

Abstract

REST is a software architectural style used for the design of highly scalable web applications. Interest in REST has grown rapidly over the past decade, spurred by the growth of open web APIs. On the other hand, there is also considerable confusion surrounding REST: many examples of supposedly RESTful APIs violate key REST constraints. We show that the constraints of REST and of RESTful HTTP can be precisely formulated within temporal logic. This leads to methods for model checking and run-time verification of RESTful behavior. We formulate several relevant verification questions and analyze their complexity. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.