Guide to RESTful API

Today hundreds of companies use REST APIs to create web services. It’s the most logical, efficient and widespread standard. So in this article we will take a deep look into it.

Overview #

API #

It stands for Application Programming Interface, a software intermediary that allows two apps to talk to each other.

Types by use Cases #

APIs

It can be classified according to the systems for which they are designed.

Here are they :

  • Databases
  • Operating Systems
  • Remote
  • Web

What is it then? #

RESTful API #

It is an architectural style and approach to communications often used in web service development.

Architectural Constraints #

There are 6 architectural constraints that make any web service. The only optional constraint is the last one:

  • Uniform Interface
  • Stateless
    -Cacheable
  • Client-Server
  • Layered System
  • Code on Demand (optional)

Why REST? #

  • Client and server are separated
  • Visibility, readability and scalability
  • Independent of platforms and languages

How it works? #

RESTful API uses existing HTTP method, providing a meaning for the request you’re making, to obtain resources from the server:

  • GET - To retrieve a resource
  • PUT - To update a resource
  • POST - To create a new resource

Format #

JSON - JavaScript Object Notation is a common format to send and request data through REST APIs. It’s object looks like:

/* Each property and value must be wrapped with double quotation marks */
{
  "property1": "value1", 
  "property2": "value2", 
  "property3": "value3"
}

Thanks For Reading