What is RESTful?

Representational state transfer (REST) is a popular architectural style for web services and APIs. First introduced by Roy Fielding in 2000, it provides a set of principles and guidelines for building APIs, such as client-server communication, statelessness, uniform interfaces, and resource-based URLs.

A RESTful API adheres to the REST principles and guidelines. When we refer to an API as being RESTful, it means the API uses the HTTP methods appropriately, organizes resources with meaningful URLs, and relies on standard HTTP status codes.

In contrast, nonREST APIs might implement custom protocols, lack clear resource organization, and use ad hoc operation methods. This can lead to complexity, reduced interoperability, and a steeper developer learning curve.

Why RESTful?

RESTful API provides rules for different systems to understand each other easily. Following these rules, systems can exchange information regardless of their programming languages or platforms.

In the following slide, a client app can communicate with a REST server, and the REST server can talk to another REST server. REST makes communication simpler for computer systems on the internet.

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