What is a key characteristic of REST?

• A. It is stateful
• B. It uses SOAP protocols
• C. It is stateless
• D. It requires sessions

Answer: (C)

A key characteristic of REST (Representational State Transfer) is that it is stateless. This means that each request from a client to a server must contain all the information the server needs to fulfill that request. The server does not store any state about the client session between requests. This stateless nature allows RESTful services to be more scalable and simpler to manage, as each request is treated independently without any regard to previous interactions.

In contrast, a stateful architecture would require the server to remember client context or session data, which can complicate server design and reduce scalability. The other options suggest mechanisms or characteristics that are not aligned with REST's principles: REST does not use SOAP (which is a protocol) and it doesn't require sessions or maintain any context between requests, further reinforcing its stateless nature.