Besides minor things like _links -> links, it specifies a lot of behavior more explicitly than HAL. HAL is a very minimal specification and intentionally doesn'

Besides minor things like _links -> links, it specifies a lot of behavior more explicitly than HAL. HAL is a very minimal specification and intentionally doesn't nail down every corner case, preferring implementors to choose what's right for them, perhaps at the cost of a more powerful generic client Edit: and hey, why not, I'm the author of a generic HAL client myself: https://github.com/deontologician/restnavigator https://github.com/deontologician/restnavigator