What is REST API?

REST API:

            REST ( Representational state transfer) is a architecture for communicating between the varies server. The operating system may be windows,linux or android, the REST API will give the date in the form of TEXT, XML, CSV and JSON.

Why REST is getting popular than the SOAP?

            In SOAP there are lot of protocol we need to define, for accessing the data from the third party website, but in REST we no need define any protocol the REST itself makes it so secure as it will perform the CRUD(CREATE,READ,UPDATE,DELETE) operation with the simple allowed format.

Case study on REST:

            Suppose i am developing the weather report android application , for that I need the current location temperature, humidity and rainfall report. There are two way i can get those data

• By placing thermometer and required device in all the location (Which will make a crores of rupees)
• Using the existing database which is being maintained by world weather control board (Via REST API)

The second option makes it quit simpler for my android application, in which I can use the data alone without doing lot of stuff.

 Major Companies using REST API:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google