title: Alternatives to REST API pattern
body: <p>I am writing a thesis which involves a comparison between RESTful web APIs and their corresponding alternatives. The problem is, I am quite biased towards REST and am failing to find any noteworthy architectural patterns that could be compared. </p>
  
  <p>My comparison is going to analyze the patterns (or styles) from the consumer perspective (primarily how universal is an API for consumers). </p>
  
  <p>Could you recommend me any alternatives for REST (as a <em>software architectural pattern</em> for comparison in the mentioned aspect? So far, I'm stuck with SOAP.</p>
  
  <p>P.S. If the question is still too broad, I can narrow it down a bit.</p>