APIs & REST Basics
APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, allow different software systems to communicate and share data. REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is a popular architectural style for building APIs. RESTful APIs use standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources, typically represented in formats like JSON or XML. This approach enables easy, scalable, and stateless interactions between clients and servers over the web.
APIs & REST Basics
APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, allow different software systems to communicate and share data. REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is a popular architectural style for building APIs. RESTful APIs use standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources, typically represented in formats like JSON or XML. This approach enables easy, scalable, and stateless interactions between clients and servers over the web.
💡 Key Takeaways
- Understand what APIs are and how they enable software systems to communicate and share data.
- Grasp REST basics: Representational State Transfer and how resources are accessed via URLs.
- Identify the core HTTP methods used by RESTful APIs (GET, POST, PUT/PATCH, DELETE) and their typical uses.
- Know how data is exchanged in REST APIs (requests and responses), including common formats like JSON and the meaning of status codes.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is an API?
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules that lets software components request data or trigger actions from another app or service.
What does REST stand for and why is it used?
REST stands for Representational State Transfer. It's a design style for building APIs that uses standard web protocols (HTTP) to access resources in a scalable, stateless way.
Which HTTP methods are commonly used in REST and what do they do?
GET retrieves data, POST creates new data, PUT updates existing data, and DELETE removes resources. PATCH can be used for partial updates.
What makes an API RESTful?
A RESTful API follows REST constraints: stateless client-server interactions, a uniform interface using resource-based URLs, standard HTTP methods, and cacheable responses.