HTTP and REST

As a Full Stack Developer how much do you really need to know about HTTP and Rest?

In this blog, I will discuss my experience with HTTP and REST so that you can have a better understanding of the role of HTTP and REST.

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 
• REpresentational State Transfer (REST)

We all use HTTP and REST services every day, often without even realizing it.
But do we really understand what HTTP and REST are and how they work?

Learning the role of HTTP and REST can be beneficial for anyone who works with tools like HTML, CSS, and even Full Stack Developers.

HTTP and REST are services that are used in many different ways, from working with tools to developing full stack applications.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

HTTP is essential for accessing websites and other resources on the Internet, as it allows users to request documents from remote servers, receive responses from those servers, and display those documents in their web browsers. Understanding the key principles of HTTP can help you better understand how the web works, as well as how to make sure your website or application functions correctly.

HTTP is the foundation of data communication on the World Wide Web. It is an application-layer protocol that enables clients (such as web browsers) to communicate with servers. Here are some key points to know about HTTP:

1. Request-Response Model: HTTP follows a request-response model where the client sends an HTTP request to the server, and the server responds with an HTTP response.
2. HTTP Verbs: HTTP defines several methods or verbs to indicate the desired action to be performed on a resource. The most common ones include:

• GET: Retrieves a resource from the server.
• POST: Sends data to the server to create a new resource.
• PUT: Updates an existing resource on the server.
• DELETE: Deletes a resource on the server.
• PATCH: Partially updates an existing resource.

1. Headers: HTTP requests and responses contain headers that provide additional information about the request or response. Headers include details like the content type, caching directives, authentication credentials, and more.
2. Status Codes: HTTP responses include status codes that indicate the outcome of the request. Some common status codes include:

• 200 OK: The request succeeded.
• 404 Not Found: The requested resource could not be found.
• 500 Internal Server Error: An unexpected error occurred on the server.

For more in-depth information about HTTP, you can refer to the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) documentation on HTTP: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP

REST (Representational State Transfer)

• What is REST? Representational state transfer
• Why does REST Matter? The Problem solved by REST
• Best Practices for RESTFUL API

The most common methods used in REST APIs are GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. Each of these methods corresponds to a specific action on the resource being accessed. For example, GET is used to retrieve data from the server while POST is used to create new data on the server.

By understanding these principles of REST URL’s and actions, developers can build robust APIs that are easy to use and maintain.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and REST (Representational State Transfer). These two concepts are fundamental to web development and play a significant role in designing and building web applications.

REST is an architectural style that provides guidelines for designing networked applications. It is not a protocol but a set of principles for creating web services. Here are some key points about REST:

1. Resources: REST treats data as resources, which are identified by unique URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). Each resource should have a unique URL, and clients interact with these resources using HTTP methods.
2. Stateless: REST is stateless, meaning that each request from a client to a server should contain all the necessary information. The server doesn’t store any session state between requests.
3. CRUD Operations: RESTful APIs typically implement CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations using HTTP methods. For example:

• GET /users: Retrieves a list of users.
• POST /users: Creates a new user.
• PUT /users/{id}: Updates a user with a specific ID.
• DELETE /users/{id}: Deletes a user with a specific ID.

1. Response Formats: RESTful APIs often support multiple response formats, such as JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and XML (eXtensible Markup Language), allowing clients to choose their preferred format.

To dive deeper into REST, you can explore the RESTful Web Services chapter on the Oracle website: https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/6/tutorial/doc/gijqy.html

Additionally, you can refer to the Richardson Maturity Model, which outlines different levels of RESTful architecture and provides guidance on designing RESTful APIs: https://martinfowler.com/articles/richardsonMaturityModel.html

Learn REST

• Part Art Part Science – A RESTful Tutorial

a RESTful API.
https://www.restapitutorial.com/
VIDEO – https://www.restapitutorial.com/lessons/whatisrest.html – 5:30 min.

POST/GET requests.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3477333/what-is-the-difference-between-post-and-get
Learning how to use Chrome DevTools can be extremely helpful.
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/?utm_source=dcc&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=2018Q2
What are SSL Certificates.
READ https://www.digicert.com/ssl/
HTTP/2 & SPDY (optional).
READ https://hpbn.co/http2/
WebSockets,
READ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebSockets_API
Web Workers, and Service Workers (all optional).
READ https://aarontgrogg.com/blog/2015/07/20/the-difference-between-service-workers-web-workers-and-websockets/