What is REST, REST API?
REST was introduced by Roy Fielding to describe the web architecture. REST stands for Representational State Transfer.
Web comprises of various resources. A resource is any item of interest that has an URI. Using URI (eg: http://www.example.com/test.html) a "representation" of a resource is returned (test.html). The representation places the client application in a "state". Through the hyperlink, another resource is accessed and the new representation places the client application into a new state. Thus the client "transfers" the state with each resource representation.
"REST is not a standard but uses the following standards:
- HTTP
- URL
- XML/HTML/GIF/JPEG/etc (Resource Representations)
- text/xml, text/html, image/gif, image/jpeg, etc (MIME Types)" (source:[1] )
In a nutshell, REST is a web architecture in which the client submits an HTTP request to a specified URL. The response contains data mostly in XML format.
REST API's:
REST API's are designed to interact with the web servers using a simple URL over HTTP and the response are returned in XML format.
Here is an example of a call that uses the REST API of "ebay":
This REST API will provide data in response to a request in an XML format that they support.
Reference:
http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/09/30/soa.html
http://naeblis.cx/rtomayko/2004/12/12/rest-to-my-wife
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer