RESTful API characteristics

Web service APIs that adhere to the REST architectural constraints are called RESTful APIs. Before we talk about the characteristics of RESTful APIs, let's first go through the architectural constraints of this REST architectural style that Roy T. Fielding introduced in his dissertation. This will help us understand what REST is really about.

REST architectural constraints

In his dissertation, Roy T. Fielding listed the following architectural constraints that a RESTful system must conform to.

Client-server

This constraint is about separation of concerns. In the client-server architecture style, user interface concerns are separated from data storage concerns. Web applications fit this style naturally, with the frontend living inside browsers as a client, which then talks to the server through APIs.

Another well-known architectural style is event-based integration architecture, in which components of a system broadcast events over the network and at the same time listen...