Design principles behind the ASP.NET Web API

Now that we understand the intent behind ASP.NET Web API, let's discuss some design principles on which ASP.NET Web API is based:

• Distributed by design: ASP.NET Web API considers HTTP as a first-class citizen and has inherent support for REST. It enables a framework for creating distributed services that leverage HTTP features such as stateless, caching, and compression.
• Russian Doll Model: This is also called the Matryoshka doll model, which refers to a set of wooden dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. Architecturally, it denotes a recognizable relationship of nested objects (object within an object). The ASP.NET Web API messaging handlers leverage this principle to define the request-response pipeline. Each handler in the pipeline is responsible for processing the incoming request and then delegating the request to another handler. When a request reaches a handler, it may opt to process it, validate it, and then delegate...