What is a REST API?
Most of you have come across the term “Rest API” if you thought of acquiring data from some source on the web like Github and Twitter. But, what exactly is a Rest API? How does it actually work? What could be the benefits? So, here in this article, I have tried to make it clear for you information regarding Rest APIs and how to use them effectively.
What does it mean?
Suppose you are attempting to get videos about something on Youtube. You open the platform and instantly type Iron Man there in the search bar and hit enter. It will instantly provide you with a list of videos relating to Iron Man. A Rest API operates in a similar way where you search for something and get a huge list of results back from the platform where you are requesting it.
An API is an application programming interface and a set of principles that permit various programs to communicate with each other. The reliable developer builds the API on the server and permits the client to communicate with it. REST finds out how the API exactly looks like and it stands for “Representational State Transfer”. However, REST is a hefty set of rules that dedicated developers follow when they make their own API. Some of these principles show that you should get a piece of data that is a resource when you connect to a particular URL. Every URL is a request while the data that you receive is a response.
How does REST API perform?
REST defines the complete structure of an API. Reliable developers contribute to a specific set of rules when building an API. For example, a single rule defines that connecting to a URL should show you some information. Each URL is a Request, whereas the data you get is a response for it.
REST API tries to break a transaction to create a proper sequence of tiny parts. However, every part marks a particular basic form of a transaction. This complete modularity turns it into a more flexible development method.
A REST API leverages HTTP ways defined by the RFC 2616 protocol. It utilizes the following requests:
- GET to fetch some data.
- PUT to mainly change the state of data (like an object, block, or a file)
- POST to build data.
- DELETE method to remove it.
What are REST APIs used for?
To completely learn what REST API is and how exactly its design operates, let’s take an example. Assume you wish to view some video tutorials regarding data integration on Youtube. You reach the platform and type data integration there into the search bar, then press enter, and there comes a huge list of videos regarding data integration. Correct?
A RESTful API works in a similar way. You try to find something and get a list of results from your requested service. Here, the main assumption is that all calls are stateless. This implies the REST API service cannot restore anything which is between executions, turning it useful in cloud applications. Its due to stateless constituents can be assigned in a simple way if any failure happens. Furthermore, you can easily scale them to think of any load variations. Its due to any request can be easily sent to any case of a constituent.
As no amount of data can be easily restored that has to be recalled by the following transaction, REST API is the coveted protocol for internet communication. It is mentioned earlier, the REST API technology is also valuable in linking to cloud applications, as obtaining a service through an API just requires some modification in the analysis of the URL. Thus, you can use the REST API for mapping data from a cloud platform to a data storehouse.
Wrapping Up
For the developers who are new to this, REST API integration can be a little tough as you can lose the ability to preserve its state in REST, like between sessions. Moreover, it is important to show what builds a REST API control its state and the reason its guiding rules exist before creating your API. With some tiny operations, REST can easily handle variety of resources, turning it simple to create and adapt. I hope this article cleared all your doubts regarding REST APIs, from the basics to how does it work.
