Designing the messenger API

To design a fully functional RESTful application programming interface for our messenger android application, we must fully understand the concept of application programming interfaces, Representational State Transfer (REST) and RESTful services.

Application programming interfaces

An application programming interface is a collection of functions, routines, procedures, protocols, and resources that can be used for building software. In other words, an application programming interface—API for short—is a collection of well-defined and appropriately structured methods or channels of communication between software components.

Application programming interfaces can be developed for use...