[erlang-questions] REST API

[Rainer Hansen]

Pavanan M S <pavananms@REDACTED> writes:

> HI,
> What is the basic idea behind a REST API ? I am trying to develop a
> calendar service having event notifications.etc. What is the actual
> importance of REST API in this context ?

REST APIs have nothing to do with Erlang or any other programming
languages directly because it is an architectural style. Roy T. Fielding
is the inventor of REST. He has given a good introduction to it last
year, here you can find his slides:
http://roy.gbiv.com/talks/201511_Fielding_REST_CF.pdf

Without knowing more details about your calendar service it is difficult
to answer your questions. REST introduces a number of design constraints
(see page 23 of the presentation mentioned above) to achieve certain
properties (see page 24). Does your calendar service fit into those
constraints? Are the properties REST tries to achieve important for your
service?

The REST architecture style is not that easy to grap. Hence, many call
REST what they do but it has nothing to do with it. A good book on that
topic is RESTful Web APIs by Leonard Richardson and Mike Amundsen,
http://restfulwebapis.com/

Rainer