Possible Duplicate:
What exactly is RESTful programming?
What is a REST API?
views:
268answers:
9Frankly, I usually vote down answers like this. I didn't this time, I went the other way. But now I feel a bit guilty about it. SO *is* a place for asking programming questions. Yes, searching for "REST API" throws up the Wikipedia article as the top hit, but... I guess it's a matter of where to draw the line. The Dalai Lama says "Be kind whenever possible. It's always possible." The bastard. ;-)
T.J. Crowder
2010-02-07 18:39:33
One thing I've never understood about it, that wikipedia does not appear to cover, is how one could possibly make a RESTful application when it appears to require HTTP PUT and DELETE when no browser I know of supports these.
recursive
2010-02-07 18:41:36
Agree, this is an easy question to answer by means of a Google search, but it is a programming related question so we should try to answer it. That's my opinion anyways.
Cesar
2010-02-07 18:41:53
Hi TJ :) It's been a while since my last contribution on SO. I agree with you and with the Dalai Lama too ;) However I find SO useful for not-so-direct questions... a more typical question would be "if I do this in a servlet, is it still RESTful?". This particular questions shows that there was no previous effort in learning what "REST" is, thus the crude and direct answer. Anway, welcome to SO Lea!
João da Silva
2010-02-07 18:43:00
@recursive: browsers aren't the only web clients. Think of using a RESTful API over HTTP instead of SOAP, for instance.
João da Silva
2010-02-07 18:43:53
@ T.J. Crowder - apparently the Dalai Lama never uses SO.
Baddie
2010-02-07 22:36:02
A:
Wikipedia has a good description of REST
In particular, read the section on RESTful Web Services
Trevor
2010-02-07 18:33:03
A:
REpresentational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural style, defined by Dr. Roy Fielding's PhD thesis, Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures. It is the architectural style used by the World Wide Web. An API is an application programming interface. A REST(ful) API is an API that follows the REST architectural style.
Hank Gay
2010-02-07 18:33:12
+3
A:
REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer. The Web is an example of a REST architectural style - HTTP GETs and POSTs are an example of RESTful commands.
More info: Wikipedia!
Ink-Jet
2010-02-07 18:33:40
+1
A:
Here's the wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer
Here is what I understand in simple language:
REST is an alternative to SOAP based web services. Where SOAP tries to model the exchange between client and server as calls to objects, REST tries to be faithful to the web domain. So when calling a web service written in SOAP, you may write
productService.GetProduct("1")
in REST, you may call a url with HTTP GET
http://someurl/products/product/1
I am not an authority on this subject by a long shot, so read more documentation :)
Tanmay
2010-02-07 18:34:16
+1
A:
REST is the model of the Web. For example, your browser makes a request to a URL and receives a response. That request can be a GET or POST (or a PUT, DELETE, or HEAD) and the response can be anything -- HTML, an image file, a PDF, XML.
The point is that anything, no just a browser, can make that sort of request and process the response. And thus, you have REST.
Neil
2010-02-07 18:35:27
A:
REST stands for Representational State Transfer, and it was proposed in a doctorate dissertation (see here). It uses the four HTTP methods GET, POST, PUT and DELETE to execute different operations. This in contrast to SOAP for example, which creates new arbitrary commands (verbs) like getAccounts() or applyDiscount()
A REST API is a set of operations that can be invoked by means of any the four verbs, using the actual URI as parameters for your operations. For example you may have a method to query all your accounts which can be called from /accounts/all/ this invokes a HTTP GET and the 'all' parameter tells your application that it shall return all accounts.
Cesar
2010-02-07 18:36:53
+3
A:
Stack Overflow is your friend. There is a tag called REST. If you go the questions with that tag and select the "Votes" tab you will see a plethora of general "What is REST/Getting started with REST". This type of question has been asked many times before.
Ironically, these general questions are often jumped on by people with little experience in the field because they are easy to throw in a vague answer, and they tend to get lots of visibility and up votes. Don't assume the first answers you get are right. You are better to review a question that was asked a while ago, has been well upvoted and was answered by someone with some credibility in that subject area.
Darrel Miller
2010-02-07 22:33:26
Johann Gerell
2010-02-07 23:07:56
+1
A:
A 'REST API' is almost always just an 'HTTP API' given a different (wrong) name to make it sound better.
Mike
2010-02-07 23:52:25