RESTful APIs
RESTful APIs (Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interfaces) are designed using the REST architectural style, which defines a set of constraints for designing networked applications. This style emphasizes a stateless, client-server approach where resources are identified by…
Key facts
- First appeared
- 2000
- Category
- technology
- Problem solved
- RESTful APIs were created to provide a standardized, scalable, and simple way for distributed systems to communicate over the internet, addressing the complexities and limitations of earlier, more tightly coupled distributed computing paradigms like CORBA, DCOM, and SOAP, which often led to brittle, hard-to-scale integrations.
- Platforms
- Desktop Applications (as API consumers), IoT Devices (as API consumers/producers), Cloud Computing Environments, Web (HTTP-based), Mobile Platforms (iOS, Android - as API consumers)
Related technologies
- HTTP/HTTPS
- Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Backend Frameworks (e.g., Node.js/Express, Spring Boot, Django, Ruby on Rails)
- Cloud Platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Databases (SQL and NoSQL)
- Web Browsers
- JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
- XML (Extensible Markup Language)
- JavaScript (and frameworks like React, Angular, Vue.js)
Notable users
- Netflix
- Amazon
- Twilio
- Salesforce
- Stripe
- Microsoft
- Uber