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  1. What Is
September 7, 2016updated 07 Feb 2017 9:35am

What is REST?

If you're thinking about starting some web development then you'll need to know what REST is and does.

By James Nunns

REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is a way of making sure that people can access things on your computer and to get what they asked for.

Representational State Transfer, commonly known as REST, is an architectural style used for web development.

REST replies upon a stateless, client-server, cacheable communications protocol, and an HTTP protocol is also commonly used.

Used for designing networked applications it aims to use HTTP in order to make calls between machines, which is often considered an easier thing to do than using mechanisms such as CORBA, RPC, or SOAP.

How does a REST API work?

A REST API works by providing a set of endpoints that can be accessed over HTTP, which is the protocol that underlies the web. So for example; it would allow a developer to control WordPress by visiting specifically crafted web addresses.

Essentially it means that computers can communicate with each other over the internet.

Things that make up REST include an ability for two computers to talk to each other directly, with one acting as a web browser and the other as a web server.

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That allows for a REST client to send data to the REST server, much like a web browser would send form data to a web server. Then the REST server sends data back to the REST client in a machine-readable form.

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