Mastering Internet of Things

Interacting with resources

Any other type of interaction with resources that are not safe nor idempotent, such as submitting data to a resource, or performing resource-specific actions, should be done using the POST method. We will use the POST method extensively for control actions or for web form submissions, to name a couple of examples. The POST method is not safe nor idempotent. This means proxies and web servers relay the request all the way to the underlying service for processing every time a POST request is received and accepted.

Technically, you could implement idempotent control actions using the PUT method. But that would require knowledge of impotence from the client on a control-parameter basis. It's simpler to just assume no ...