REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural standard for developing web services. REST is based on principles for the design of networked applications, which are usually used for the creation of web APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). The standard enables different systems to communicate with each other over the Internet.
A RESTful API (RESTful Application Programming Interface) is a special type of API that uses the principles of REST. A RESTful API implements REST principles and uses HTTP protocol to transfer data and manipulate resources. A RESTful API is usually stateless, which means that it does not store any information about the state of the client or server, and each request must be processed independently.
REST APIs use HTTP requests to send POST (create), PUT (update), GET (read), and DELETE data. Because the HTTP protocol is widely used, RESTful APIs can be easily deployed by many different types of client applications.
Integrate RESTful APIs simply via iPaaS
To implement the integration via REST APIs, an integration platform (iPaaS), such as the Marini Integration Platform, is often used.
Using iPaaS platforms, integrations of the systems used can be modeled very easily via the APIs and usually via an intuitive user interface (no-code UI). Thus, the integration of RESTful APIs is not a complicated IT project. The integration of systems via an iPaaS becomes a task that can also be set up quickly by power users independently of software developers and updated at any time.
Example of an REST-API request
In the following example, we send a request to a REST API. In this request, we want information about the company with the ID 123. We get as a output the “Name”, “Industry” and “Location” of the company in JSON format.
Request
GET https://api.example.com/companies/123
Output
{
“id”: 123,
“name”: “Marini Systems”,
“industry”: “Technology”,
“location”: “Frankfurt am Main”
}
If you want to go into more detail, you can find a good summary of “Best practices for REST API design” on the Stackoverflow blog, as well as more useful information.
If you’re looking for support integrating your systems via APIs, Marini Systems is the right partner for you.
Recommended Literature
One of the best-known scientific papers on the subject of REST is “Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures (PDF)” by Roy Fielding, which was published in 2000. In this paper, Fielding describes the principles of REST and explains how they can be applied to the design of network-based software architectures.
A really recommended book is “RESTful Web Services (Book)” by Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby. This book provides a practical introduction to developing RESTful web services and includes examples and best practices for implementing REST principles.