What is REST in web development?

REST stands for **Representational State Transfer**, and it is an architectural style used in web development to design networked applications, particularly web APIs. A **RESTful API** is an API that adheres to the principles of REST, enabling communication between clients (like browsers or mobile apps) and servers in a stateless, scalable, and standardized way. The core principles of a RESTful API include: 1. **Statelessness**: Each request from a client to the server must contain all the information needed to understand and process the request. The server does not store any client context between requests, which simplifies scalability and reliability. 2. **Client-Server Architecture**: The client and server are separate entities. The client handles the user interface and user experience, while the server manages data storage and business logic. This separation allows each to evolve independently. 3. **Uniform Interface**: RESTful APIs use a consistent and standardized way to interact with resources. This includes using standard HTTP methods such as: - **GET** to retrieve resources, - **POST** to create new resources, - **PUT** or **PATCH** to update existing resources, - **DELETE** to remove resources. Resources are typically identified by URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). 4. **Resource-Based**: Everything is considered a resource, which can be any kind of object, data, or service. These resources are represented in formats like JSON or XML when transferred between client and server. 5. **Stateless Communication**: Each request is independent, meaning the server does not rely on stored information from previous requests. 6. **Cacheability**: Responses should explicitly indicate whether they are cacheable or not to improve client-side performance and reduce server load. 7. **Layered System**: The API can be composed of multiple layers (e.g., load balancers, proxies) without the client needing to be aware of them. By following these principles, RESTful APIs provide a scalable, flexible, and easy-to-understand mechanism for web services, making them widely adopted in modern web development.

REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style used in web development to design networked applications, particularly web services. It was introduced by Roy Fielding in his 2000 doctoral dissertation and has since become a standard approach for building APIs that allow different software systems to communicate over the internet. At its core, RESTful APIs adhere to a set of principles that emphasize simplicity, scalability, and stateless communication. The key principles include: 1. **Statelessness**: Each request from a client to the server must contain all the information needed to understand and process the request. The server does not store any client context between requests, which improves scalability and reliability. 2. **Client-Server Architecture**: The client and server are separate entities that interact through a uniform interface. This separation allows the client and server to evolve independently as long as the interface remains consistent. 3. **Uniform Interface**: REST defines a consistent way to access and manipulate resources using standard HTTP methods such as GET (retrieve data), POST (create data), PUT (update data), DELETE (remove data), and PATCH (partially update data). Resources are typically identified by URLs. 4. **Resource-Based**: Everything in REST is considered a resource, which can be any kind of object, data, or service. Resources are represented in a format like JSON or XML and are accessed via unique URIs. 5. **Stateless Communication**: Each request is independent, and the server does not rely on stored session information. This makes REST APIs scalable and easier to maintain. 6. **Cacheability**: Responses from the server can be explicitly marked as cacheable or non-cacheable, which helps improve performance on the client side by reducing unnecessary server interactions. 7. **Layered System**: The architecture can be composed of multiple layers (e.g., load balancers, proxy servers), allowing for scalability and security without the client needing to know about the underlying layers. In summary, RESTful APIs provide a standardized, efficient way for clients and servers to communicate over HTTP by treating data and functionality as resources accessible via a uniform interface. This design promotes scalability, simplicity, and interoperability, which is why REST has become widely adopted in modern web development.

REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style commonly used in web development to design networked applications, especially APIs. It was introduced by Roy Fielding in his doctoral dissertation in 2000 and has since become a foundational concept for building scalable and maintainable web services. At its core, RESTful APIs follow a set of principles that emphasize stateless communication, a uniform interface, and resource-based interactions. Here are the main principles behind a RESTful API: 1. **Statelessness**: Each request from a client to the server must contain all the information needed to understand and process the request. The server does not store any client context between requests. This makes the system scalable and easier to maintain. 2. **Client-Server Architecture**: The client and server are separate entities. The client handles the user interface, while the server manages data storage and processing. This separation allows both to evolve independently. 3. **Uniform Interface**: REST defines a standardized way to communicate between client and server. This typically involves using standard HTTP methods—GET (retrieve), POST (create), PUT (update), DELETE (remove)—to operate on resources. 4. **Resources and Representations**: Everything in REST is considered a resource, identified by a unique URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). Resources can have multiple representations, such as JSON, XML, or HTML, which the client can request based on its needs. 5. **Stateless Communication and Cacheability**: Responses should explicitly indicate whether they are cacheable, helping to improve performance by reducing unnecessary interactions. 6. **Layered System**: The architecture can be composed of multiple layers (such as proxies, gateways, or load balancers) without the client needing to be aware of them. In summary, RESTful APIs provide a flexible, scalable, and easy-to-understand way to create web services that can be consumed by a variety of clients. By adhering to these principles, REST APIs promote interoperability and make it easier for different systems to communicate over the web.