REST

REpresentational State Transfer

RESTful constraints

Uniform interface

Client <=> Server

Stateless

Cacheable

Layered system

Code-on-demand

Data elements

Resources and messages

Me, your instructor

Resource identifier

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): John D. Martin III
Uniform Resource Locator (URL): https://johndmart.in
          

Representation

Representation metadata

Representation metadata

alt="Picture of John wearing a UNC baseball cap backwards and a black cloth mask inside a car, looking away from the camera"
          

$ ls -lah john_face.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 john john 34K Feb 10 11:31 john_face.jpg
          

Resource metadata

Created: 1980-09-05T00:35:00-5:00
Last major update: 2021-09-05T00:35:00-5:00
Origin: 43.0125°,-83.6875°
Current: 35.9049°,-79.0469°
          

Control data

Cacheable: true
In-cache: true
            

Message: JSON

{
  "uri": "John D. Martin III",
  "url": "https://johndmart.in",
  "image": {
    "url": "./john_face.jpg",
    "modified": "2022-02-10T11:31:00-5:00"
  },
  "location": {
    "origin": [ "43.0125", "-83.6875" ],
    "current": [ "35.9049", "-79.0469" ]
  },
  "version": {
    "initial": [ "v0.0.0", "1980-09-05T00:35:00-5:00" ],
    "major": [ "v41.0.0", "2021-09-05T00:35:00-5:00" ],
    "current": [ "v41.5.5", "2022-02-10T00:35:00-5:00" ]
  },
  "cache": {
    "cacheable": "true",
    "in-cache": "true"
  }
}
          

Methods

1. Create
2. Read
3. Update
4. Delete

HTTP Methods

1. POST
2. GET
3. PUT
4. PATCH
5. DELETE

Corresponding Methods

1. POST == Create
2. GET == Read
3. PUT == Update (replace)
4. PATCH == Update (modify)
5. DELETE == Delete

Messages

GET URI

curl -X GET https://johndmart.in/some/api/endpoint/info/
          

JSON Body

{
  "uri": "John D. Martin III",
  "url": "https://johndmart.in",
  "image": {
    "url": "./john_face.jpg",
    "modified": "2022-02-10T11:31:00-5:00"
  },
  "location": {
    "origin": [ "43.0125", "-83.6875" ],
    "current": [ "35.9049", "-79.0469" ]
  },
  "version": {
    "initial": [ "v0.0.0", "1980-08-10T00:35:00-5:00" ],
    "major": [ "v41.0.0", "2021-08-10T00:35:00-5:00" ],
    "current": [ "v41.6.0", "2022-02-10T00:35:00-5:00" ]
  },
  "cache": {
    "cacheable": "true",
    "in-cache": "true"
  }
}
            

URL encoded Body

         
https://johndmart.in/some/api/endpoint/?uri=John%20D.%20Martin%20III&
url=http%3A%2F%2Fjohndmart.in&imgurl=.%2Fjohn_face.jpg&
imgmodified=2022-02-10T11%3A31%3A00-5%3A00&
originlat=43.0125&originlong=-83.6875&curlat=35.9049&
curlong=-79.0469&versioninit=v0.0.0&
timeinit=20221980-08-10T00%3A35%3A00-5%3A00&majorupdate=v41.0.0&
timemaj=2021-09-05T00%3A35%3A00-5%3A00&cur=v41.5.5&
timecur=2022-02-10T00%3A35%3A00-5%3A00&cacheable=true&cached=true
            

POST URI

         
curl -X POST -d "uri=John%20D.%20Martin%20III&
url=http%3A%2F%2Fjohndmart.in&imgurl=.%2Fjohn_face.jpg
&imgmodified=2022-02-10T11%3A31%3A00-5%3A00" 
https://johndmart.in/some/api/endpoint/send/            
            

SOAP

Simple Object Access Protocol

1. Strict standard
2. XML only
3. REST can use SOAP, but SOAP cannot use REST
4. More complex to implement than REST
5. Used for secure transactions
6. Atomicity Consistency Isolation Durability (ACID) compliant
7. Newer than REST (ca. mid-00s)

  
  
  
    
      John D. Martin III
    
  

            

GraphQL

Graph Query Language

1. Data-oriented
2. Very specific
3. No waste
4. New school (2015)

REST: get user name

REST: get user name
GET /users/123
/**
{
  "id": "123",
  "name": "John D. Martin III",
  "birthdate": "1980-08-10",
  "location": {
    "city": "Chapel Hill",
    "state": "North Carolina",
    "country": "United States of America"
  }
}
*/
            

GraphQL: get user name

query {
  User (id: "123"){
    name
  }
}
            

RPC

Remote Procedure Call

1. Request <=> Response
2. Execute remote server code as if local
3. Client agnostic of code location
4. Action-oriented
5. Old school (ca. 1981, but conceptually older)