Describing this as REST is really strange. Defining your own operations over an HTTP POST is what SOAP and other RPC style web services do and specifically what REST isn't. But I guess that a lack of a standard behind REST ended up with the term being used for everything.
It involves two endpoints exchanging the state of a shared resource. It needs to be compliant with the constraints of that style.
People think that REST must be over HTTP, but it can be over any protocol. The essence is that it is a style of systems design, so JMAP can be considered RESTful as described in the link above.
REST is one of the real patterns in software architecture, a set of constraints, not a set of structural elements.
The fact that this is a discussion though makes my point. By REST being only an achitecture style with very loose definitions makes it arguably fit for all different kinds of APIs which in turn has made the term useless over time. Maybe we could use a set of technical standards (like SOAP) for different common API implementation solutions within the bigger REST idea. Discussions like REST vs SOAP are like comparing OO and Haskell, one is a concept/pattern, another is a specific technology.
That wasn't my takeaway. They don't consider it HTTP-based REST, but they do consider it RESTful. The FAQ's question is from the perspective of someone who doesn't make that distinction.
You can model things RESTfully, but the encoding of REST into a carrier protocol (commonly HTTP, but it doesn't have to be) is a separate matter. The "very loose definitions" largely stem from the encoding, not the modeling.
>The "very loose definitions" largely stem from the encoding, not the modeling.
Sure, but the fact that we don't have strict definitions for common encodings means that you then have a discussion on it every time. It would be nice to have Standard A, that defines a common way to encode a common type of REST API (HTTP/JSON/etc) and we can just say our software uses that and REST is implied. Instead we get a situation where JSON-over-HTTP is perceived as being REST when it actually fails as a test in both ways. Some things are REST and don't use JSON or HTTP and some things are not REST and still use JSON and HTTP.
Also i'd classify a REST api as anything that does http requests and consumes proper JSON. As long as this is true , the rest is squabbling :)
REST doesn't need to use any HTTP verbs other than GET and POST.