Web Service — REST

What is REST

  • a design pattern for implementing networked systems, stands for “Representational State Transfer”
  • A client references a web resources using a URL
  • The web serves as a guiding framework for the web
  • HTTP is not just a protocol
    • It provides an API (POST, GET, PUT, DELETE) for create, read, update, and delete operations on a resource
  • Approach isolates application complexity at the end points (client and server) and keeps it out of the transport

Three Fundamental Aspects of REST

  • Resources
    • Every distinguishable entity is a resource. A resource may be a web site, an HTML page, and XML document etc.
  • URLs
    • Every resource is uniquely identified by a URL.
  • Simple operations

REST vs. SOAP

REST

  • The web is the universe of globally accessible information
  • Resource oriented
  • User-driven interactions via forms
  • Few operations (generic interface) on many resources
  • URI: Consistent naming mechanism for resources
  • Focus on scalability and performance of large scale distributed hypermedia systems

SOAP

  • The web is the universal transport of message
  • Activity/Service oriented
  • Orchestrated reliable event flows
  • Many operations (service interface) on few resources
  • Lack of standard naming mechanism
  • Focus on design of integrated (distributed) applications

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