Understanding RESTful APIs: Design Principles and Best Practices

  Understanding RESTful APIs: Design Principles and Best Practices Introduction APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are the backbone of modern web development, enabling different software systems to communicate seamlessly. RESTful APIs, based on Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture, are the most widely used method to design APIs that are scalable, simple, and efficient. What is a RESTful API? A RESTful API uses HTTP requests to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on resources, which are identified by URLs. It follows a set of architectural constraints that allow for stateless communication and uniform interfaces. Key REST Principles Statelessness: Each request from client to server must contain all information needed to understand and process it. No client context is stored on the server between requests. Client-Server Architecture: Separation of concerns; clients handle UI, servers handle data storage and processing. Cacheabi...