What is the importance of self-descriptive messages in REST?

Short answer: Each request and response should have enough metadata (headers, content type, status codes) to describe how to process it, without external context. 👉 Example in ASP.NET Core: return Ok(new { Id = 1, Name = "John", Links = new[] { new { Rel = "self", Href = "/users/1" } } }); Here, the response describes itself (content type = JSON, includes resource links).

Real-world example (ShopNest)

Creating an order is POST /api/orders → 201 with Location header. Fetching is GET /api/orders/{id} → 200 or 404.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.