API v/s REST API: Application Programming Interface(API) simplifies the process of integrating various applications by providing readily available codes. Which act as a mediator among applications to streamline the interaction with one another. On the other hand, A REST API (also known as RESTful web service or REST API) is an architectural style for building web services that interact via an HTTP protocol.
One of the major things to understand is that API is the superset while REST API is the subset. This means all REST APIs are APIs while not all APIs are REST APIs. There are a lot of differences between the API and REST API. API stands for Application Programming Interface while REST stands for Representational State Transfer.
Application Programming Interface(API)
An API is a connector between applications to transfer data and services by granting all the required permissions. In simple words, API is a set of functions and procedures that allow one application to access the feature of other applications Therefore it is an essential part of any application development. Let us consider an example;
Imagine that you order a product from an online eCommerce app (take Amazon as an example). After you complete the order there is no option to track your order. In that case, you would never know where your product is. Here API comes with a solution. In this scenario, amazon request location access from google map through API, and a response is sent to amazon from where we can track the location.
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Representational State Transfer(REST) API
REST API is an architectural pattern developed by Roy Fielding in 2000 for creating web services. It is a web service API that user URLs, HTTP protocol, and JSON for data format. GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE are the HTTP methods used by REST applications.
Before further reading, you need to know the difference between REST and RESTful. (In short) REST is a rule set that defines the best practices for sharing data between client and server or which is an architectural style that defines a set of constraints to be used for creating web service. And REST API is a way for accessing web services in a simple way. All communication via REST API uses only HTTP requests. When a request in the form of a URL is sent to the client from the server using any of the HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE). After the request, a response comes back as HTML, JSON, XML, or Image from the server.
At the end
- API stands for Application Programming Interface and REST is Representational State Transfer
- An API is a superset and REST API is a subset of it.
- The application Programming Interface is a connector between applications to transfer the data and services
- REST is a set of guidelines that can be used for making REST APIs faster and more lightweight.
- All REST APIs are APIs while not all APIs are REST APIs.
- Communications via REST API use only HTTP requests.
