In the course of performing my duties at my day job I recently came across the need for our data to be accessible via an API. After researching the various types available, I settled on developing a REST API. The selection process wasn’t the interesting part of this exercise though. Actually implementing a REST API is what was.
REST is a set of principles
If there is one point that you should take away from this post after reading it, it is this: REST is a set of principles and not a specification. Consider for a moment someone you believe to be moral. Traits that may make them moral, such as trustworthiness, decency or honor, are characteristics of their morality; guidelines they follow in their life – a moral code. There is not a law that specifies what morality is, but there is a general sense of what is expected and what is meant when discussing morality. The same holds true for REST. There is not a specific implementation that makes an API RESTful, but instead certain expectations that one should strive to achieve. (more…)
