REST

REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style, not a protocol itself, for designing web services. It is widely used for building APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that enable communication between different applications over the internet. Here are its key characteristics and principles:

Key Characteristics:

• Stateless: Each request from a client (usually a web browser or mobile app) to a server (providing the API) is treated as an independent transaction. The server doesn’t maintain any information about the client’s previous requests, making it simpler and more scalable.
• Resource-based: APIs are designed around resources, which are identifiable entities (like users, products, or orders) that can be created, read, updated, and deleted using standardized methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).
• Client-server: The client initiates requests to the server, specifying the desired resource and the operation (e.g., GET to retrieve, POST to create). The server processes the request and sends back a response, typically in the form of JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or XML (Extensible Markup Language) data.
• Standard protocols: Utilizes existing protocols like HTTP, leveraging its features like headers, status codes, and methods for efficient communication.