What is REST API and methods?

REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs have become the standard for building APIs that allow different software systems to communicate with each other. A REST API breaks down a transaction to create a series of small modules, each with a specific role. This modular design provides flexibility and scalability.

What is a REST API?

A REST API is an application programming interface (API) that conforms to REST architectural constraints. It uses HTTP requests to perform operations such as GET, POST, PUT and DELETE on resources.

Here is an example GET request to retrieve a user resource with id 123:

GET /api/users/123

And a POST request to create a new user:

POST /api/users
{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "email": "[email protected]"
}

Resources in a REST API are identified by URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). The API exposes endpoints that operate on these resources.

Benefits of REST APIs

Key REST Methods

The key HTTP methods used in REST APIs are:

For example, making a GET request on /users would retrieve all user resources, while making a DELETE request on /users/123 deletes user 123.

When to Use REST APIs

REST APIs shine for public APIs. The separation of client and server and stateless nature enable high scalability. Some examples:

REST continues to gain popularity for building scalable and flexible APIs. With its simplicity and wide adoption, REST will continue to be the standard for APIs in the foreseeable future.