Roy Fielding (born 1965) is an American computer scientist who co-founded Apache HTTP Server and defined the REST architectural style. His work on web architecture underlies how modern web services communicate.
Apache HTTP Server
Fielding was a founding member of the Apache Group in 1995. The team took over maintenance of the NCSA HTTPd web server and built it into the dominant web server of its era.
HTTP/1.1
As a principal author of the HTTP/1.1 specification (RFC 2616), Fielding helped define the protocol that enabled the web to scale. His understanding of HTTP’s architectural principles informed his later work.
Defining REST
Fielding’s 2000 doctoral dissertation “Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures” defined REST. He analyzed why the web succeeded architecturally and extracted principles that could guide web service design.
REST’s Influence
REST became the dominant API design paradigm:
- “RESTful APIs” replaced SOAP in most contexts
- Web services adopted resource-oriented design
- HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) as verbs
Correcting REST Misconceptions
Fielding has often clarified what REST actually means, noting that many “REST APIs” violate core constraints. True REST requires hypermedia controls (HATEOAS), which most APIs lack.