REST
Web APIs typically use REST style for communication while moving away from more traditional SOAP web services. Our ProgrammableWeb service directory currently lists around 1500 services which are using REST , and around 360 using SOAP . Why is REST becoming so popular and what are the common mistakes in the REST API design? Graphic from Open APIs: a State of the Market REST API, or to be more precise RESTful API implemented with HTTP, inherently adopts Web architecture principles and can take many advantages of already existing Web technology. Your RESTful API does not require any vendor-specific software.
REST Mistakes
Some background on REST REST is an architectural style for web services like ours. It’s the basis of the way the web works today, so it was designed with things like scalability and interoperability in mind. This style has a few main guidelines:
API - Formats - REST vs. non-REST
I am getting frustrated by the number of people calling any HTTP-based interface a REST API. Today’s example is the SocialSite REST API . That is RPC. It screams RPC. There is so much coupling on display that it should be given an X rating.
REST APIs must be hypertext-driven » Untangled
RESTful Web services: The basics
The basics REST defines a set of architectural principles by which you can design Web services that focus on a system's resources, including how resource states are addressed and transferred over HTTP by a wide range of clients written in different languages. If measured by the number of Web services that use it, REST has emerged in the last few years alone as a predominant Web service design model.