I don't understand: An API is an application programming interface, i.e. it is meant to be consumed by other programs. How does that go together with

> REST and HATEOAS are for humans

?

And how does that go together with the requirements of "no interpretation needed" and therefore "little coupling" between client and server that were mentioned in the article? Any API must be interpreted by the calling application – i.e. the caller must know what they are calling and what responses they might get. Otherwise they cannot do anything useful with it – at least not in an automatic (programmatic) fashion.

I really don't understand how something can be a REST API on the one hand (clear, well-documented interface; used for programming), and on the other hand is supposed to be "for humans" and devoid of "interpretation" on the client's part. (Leaving aside that, even if this were possible, the interpretation would simply be done by the very final client of the API: The human.)

All in all, I simply fail to see how ideas like "REST is for humans", HATEOAS etc. are supposed to be actionable in the real world.