These principles must be satisfied if a service interface is to be referred to as RESTful. A Web API (or Web Service) conforming to the REST architectural style is called a REST API (or RESTful API).
REST defines 6 architectural constraints which make any web service – a truly RESTful API i.e. Uniform interface, Client–server, Stateless, Cacheable, Layered system, Code on demand (optional).
Nordic’s article on RESTful API pagination is a good resource for exploring the topic further. 11. API Security is Not an Afterthought The security of an API is a non-negotiable aspect. We must use the latest security practices with proper authentication mechanisms like OAuth2, API keys, or JWT (JSON Web Tokens).
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a contract (or specification) promised by the software that it will honor if other software wants to interact with it.
Richardson Maturity Model serves as a reference for assessing and improving the design of RESTful web services. It highlights the importance of URI design, HTTP methods, and HATEOAS in achieving different levels of RESTful maturity.
RESTful URI should refer to a resource that is a thing (noun) instead of referring to an action (verb) because nouns have properties that verbs do not have – similarly, resources have attributes.
When designing REST APIs, this has been observed that many people struggle to choose between HTTP PUT or POST methods due to their seemingly similar objectives – both involve sending data to a server. However, understanding the differences between HTTP PUT and POST is crucial for their correct usage. Though, RFC 2616 has been very clear in differentiating between the two – yet complex ...
Each HTTP request to a RESTful service must contain all the information needed to understand and process this request. This kind of statelessness makes it easier to scale, cache, and manage the service.
