Introduction to API

API --> Application Programming Interface , is defined as a set of rules or protocols that are set to enable two software to communicate with each other. There are several types of API’s example SOAP, XML-RPC or REST This article will focus more on REST API.

Rest API stands for REpresentational State Transfer→ It is a set of functions (GET, POST, PUT ,Patch or Delete) that enables clients to perform CRUD operations that include Create , Read, Update and Delete resources in the data server.

There are Six REST API design principles.

• Uniform interface

• Stateless

• Client-server decoupling

• Cacheable

• Code on Demand

• Layered System

Rest API HTTP Methods

1. GET → Request Data from a server. The response contains all details requested.

2. POST→Create new resources on the server.

3. PUT→Update a Resource in the specified URL.

4. Patch->Update a Resource in specific fields or properties of an existing resource.

5. DELETE→Delete a Resource in the Specified URL.