This article was published as a part of the Data Science Blogathon.
Representational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural paradigm for designing online applications based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
A REST API, often known as a RESTful API, adheres to REST principles. In a REST API, all data are represented by a unique, consistent resource identifier and processed as resources (URI). The Twitter API, for instance, makes each tweet a resource that clients can access. Using Twitter’s API, clients may publish tweets and do other operations on the site.
REST’s development has made APIs more accessible while revealing their strength and potential. REST APIs are simple to create and cacheable with a resource-oriented architecture. In addition, RESTful APIs have spawned important developments such as microservices architecture and cloud computing. Therefore, it is not surprising that REST API developers are in high demand today, given that they provide a competitive advantage to businesses that employ RESTful services.
RESTful web services are those that adhere to the REST architecture. REST stands for Representational State Transfer and is implemented using the HTTP protocol (web protocol). These services are lightweight, provide maintainability and scalability, and communicate between applications written in various programming languages. Utilizing request headers, request body, response body, status codes, etc., they provide the client access to server-hosted resources via the web browser.
The REST architecture is known as stateless because it does not keep any client session-related data on the server. In essence, session states are maintained solely on the client’s side. Effectively, this is known as statelessness.
It guarantees that the server cannot exploit any saved information. However, since no data are kept, each request from the client to the server must include all the required request information.
Some of the most important characteristics of REST are:
The cons are:
Indeed, we can. TLS is responsible for encrypting the REST client and server communication and authenticating the server to the client. As the successor of the Secure Sockets Layer, it is utilized for secure communication. HTTPS is compatible with both TLS and SSL, making it useful for creating RESTful web services. Notably, the REST protocol inherits properties from the protocol it implements. Therefore, security measures depend on the REST protocol implementation.
Pros of statelessness:
Cons of statelessness:
The method of identifying server resources is known as addressing. URLs are used to address these resources in RESTful web services. These addresses may relate to a single resource or several resources.
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Idempotent methods deliver the same result regardless of the times the same request has been performed.
These approaches are essential due to the frequent occurrence of client-side duplicate request transmission. Therefore, it is essential to employ Idempotent procedures to prevent such mistakes.
REST (Representational State Transfer)
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
AJAX
REST
Since online services frequently deal with a great number of sensitive data, application security becomes a big problem. Listed below are a few things to bear in mind.
We practiced answering the most common interview questions on RESTful web services. In recent years, REST APIs have emerged as a significant technology in the software development field. Scalable and easily maintained RESTful web services are hard to come by, but their creators are masters of the art. The need for developers versed in RESTful web service development is expected to rise significantly in tandem with the industry’s rising use of REST architecture. Key takeaways from the article:
This blog post should help you with REST API interview questions. These REST API interview questions can help you ace your next interview.
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