REST (Representational State Transfer) , is a software architectural style that provides guidelines for building web APIs and systems that communicate with each other:
- Purpose
REST was created to manage communication on complex networks like the internet.
- Characteristics
RESTful systems are stateless, separate the concerns of client and server, and emphasize uniform interfaces.
- Benefits
REST is popular because it’s simple, builds on existing systems, and results in lightweight, fast, reliable, scalable, and portable applications.
- How it works
RESTful systems interact through operations on resources, which are accessed using Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). The HTTP actions GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE are used to create, read, update, and delete resources.
- Design considerations
When designing a RESTful API, you can consider things like:
- Defining the API’s purpose and scope
- Using meaningful URIs that use nouns
- Employing the correct HTTP methods
- Implementing proper status codes
- Supporting multiple request/response formats Implementing paginationUsing consistent naming conventions and versioning