[jerryr]

I'm an embedded hardware/software developer with only a lightweight exposure to web programming, and I feel that I could answer that question adequately.

I'd be curious to hear the types of responses you're actually getting. I've had to do a lot of interviewing in my career and I've encountered "simple" questions that throw nervous candidates off of their game simply because of a misunderstanding. Sometimes the simplest questions can be the worst because the candidates expect something harder and overthink it. So, you might play with the phrasing a bit, or have different ways of asking it in case they seem to freeze up. For example, "could you name and describe some of the defining properties of a REST API?" or "could you tell me what makes a REST API different from a [SOAP, etc.--pick your favorite alternative] API?"

That said, I would expect a reasonably bright, experienced candidate to understand what you're asking fairly quickly. If you have to re-phrase it 3 times and they're still stuck, they're probably not a good fit.

[CodingChef]

Thanks for your great input! Multiple times the only answer I got was "CRUD", without any explanation. Which from a certain perspective it relates to REST but from an experienced engineer is expected a little more, nothing specific just anything really.

[jerryr]

I think people in this thread are getting a little hung up on the fact that there might not be a clear-cut or widely-accepted definition of "REST". And, sure, if you're only passing people who happen to mention the exact keywords you have in mind, then I'd say your interviewing methodology is flawed.

But I don't think that's what you're doing. I think you're hoping to spark a conversation about what REST is and you've given us a few keywords here as examples of what you might expect to come up in this conversation. And this seems perfectly reasonable to me. I would expect that an engineer with relevant experience and an inkling of insightfulness and professional curiosity would be able to hold such a conversation.