An alternative approach to building RESTful APIs is known under the acronym HATEOAS ([[Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State]]). ItIn this approach, the client software is not written to a static interface description shared through documentation. Instead, the client is given a set of entry points and the API is being discovered dynamically through interaction with these endpoints. HATEOAS was introduced in [[Roy Fielding]]'s doctoral thesis ''Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures''. HATEOAS has been the original vision for RESTful APIs which distinguished them from [[Remote Procedure Call|RPC]] mechanisms.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fielding|first1=Roy|title=REST APIs must be hypertext-driven|url=http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/rest-apis-must-be-hypertext-driven|accessdate=4 November 2015}}</ref>
