Resources can be individual resources or part of a collection. Collection resources are the plural format of a resource. For example, order is an individual resource while orders denotes a collection.

Resources can can are also categorized as a root resource or a sub-resource. A root resource is a resource that has no parent associated resource. A sub-resource is a resource that exists only in the context of a parent resource, for example an address resource exists in conjunction with a profile resource.

When creating a resource, it is best not to create dependencies between resource classes. Instead, use the REST resource registry and other framework components, such as LinkUtils, to resolve URIs or resolve sub-resource references.