Lately I am hearing from different sources of "different types of RESTful web services".
In particular: "4 types of RESTful web services". What are the differences between them?
POST, GET, PUT/PATCH, DELETE
Yes, sure. Simple. But I did not know that this is what it was referring to
Related
I have been asked about the difference between Web API and RESTful services and that is also an interesting question to me. From my point of view, the only possible difference between RESTful service and Web API can be considered as that RESTful services are inherently meant to be stateless (although we can use cookies), while the concept of being inherently stateless does not apply to Web APIs as we can use sessions (can't be used in RESTful service).
However, I decided to post this question to see if there are any other potential differences that distinguish these two technologies from one another.
You're comparing a programming framework and a design paradigm. That's not a fair comparison.
Web API is a web service application framework. You can implement a REST API using it, but you don't have to. You can also write RPC-style services in it, or really just any kind of application that talks HTTP but doesn't (strictly) adhere to the REST principles.
REST is just an architectural style. It's not any protocol or framework. You can implement RESTful services using many frameworks and programming languages. Web API is just one of them for .NET.
It's true that RESTful services are stateless.
Here is the list of main REST constraints:
Client-Server
Stateless
Cache
Uniform interface
Layered system
Code-On-Demand
For more details about REST architecture I recommend Roy Fielding's publications under this link.
Coming back to your doubts, you can implement RESTful service with Web API framework, but only if you follow the rules of REST architectural style.
When I go through different blogs and articles, the jargon on "REST service, API" put me in a bit confusion.
Can someone explain the difference between API and a Rest service?
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Regards
PT
In short, a REST-service is some sort of API, an API is not a REST-webservice.
Api stands for "Application Programming Interface", and means "A set of rules of how to interact between different pieces of code" A REST-service is a set of rules about how to interact between your code and some code out there on the internet.
Most times in real life, api or webapi is used for anything that provides a method of comunication between client (server) and server.
What does a Web service really mean ? I am not looking for a theoretical explanation, I am looking for something practical.
I was thinking that anything I can call from an external client is a Web service, so a basic PHP which returns JSON data could be a Web service.
But then I started reading about Web services in W3Schools.org and I got confused. If the PHP URL which returns JSON data is a web service, why would I need to do SOAP, WDSL etc ... to create a Web service. Isn't it extra work?
Also, if SOAP is the way data is sent back and forth, what about other transport types?
What differentiates a RESTful Web service from a SOAP based web service?
When you are talking about a webservice people generally misunderstand what it means, a webservice is simply a way to interact between a and b that abstracts the use of local technology standards. A WSDL defines the way in which the SOAP message is being sent over the channel. REST uses JSON over HTTP, WSDL uses SOAP over HTTP.
The advantage of a webservice is, say you develop one piece of code in .net and you wish to use JAVA to consume this code. You can interact directly with the abstracted layer and are unaware of what technology was used to develop the code.
SOA is a set of design paradigms and standards that tell you how to develop your services, in SOA each service is meant to comply with the principles listed below. WSDL is generally linked with but not essential for a SOA solution. If you wish to learn about SOA google "Thomas Erl SOA".
Priciples of SOA
Standardized service contract
Service loose coupling
Service abstraction
Service reusability
Service autonomy
Service statelessness
Service discoverability
Service composability
This Q&A Restful vs Other Web Services brings a lot of light to what is a webserver, and differences from SOAP and REST. Id recommend to read all the answers (many of them are very good).
What different types of Web Services are there?
During my searching I have come across:
1) REST vs. SOAP
2) REST vs. Big Web Services
3) REST vs. Arbitrary Web Services
What are they? What’s the difference between them? And what are the main types of Web Services? Do REST/SOAP/Big Web Services/Arbitrary Web Services form a hierarchy of some sort? Are there classes, and sub-classes of Web Services?
Also I have read that a web service is made up of: WSDL + SOAP + UDDI. If so, then how come people differentiate between RESTful web service, and a SOAP Web Service, when every Web Service must use SOAP?
What exactly is REST? I understand that REST uses HTTP, and that a REST operation accesses data, rather than performing an operation. But is it just a theory/methadology, or is it a tool, or something else?
How does REST contribute to giving us Clean URLs?
I’ve spent close to a whole day searching upon these things, but I am still a bit unclear. Any info regarding these things will be MUCH appreciated.
I want to understand some points :
Does using- SOA mean that I am using web services ? (or vice-verse?)
If I use web services with CXF, do I need an ESB ? what are the advantages of ESB like MULE in an architecture with web services ?
if I publish my web services in Java, does that means any client who has my WSDL can use my service, even if he/she uses .NET or something else than Java? Can ESB handle that?
Does using- SOA mean that I am using web services ? (or vice-verse?)
- SOA is a concept and web service is an implementation of SOA. There can be many ways to implement it but the most common one is the web services.
If I use web services with CXF, do I need an ESB ? what are the advantages of ESB like MULE in an architecture with web services ?
ESB is a major component in you SOA. Its the main integration hub.
Following diagram will give you a more understanding about SOA and ESB. (Disclaimer : I work for WSO2 and this is one of the diagram that gives you a clear understanding about SOA and ESB)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yO8q3CIhuZs/S-Zq88vkJlI/AAAAAAAAAak/QAJeDVXVL_4/s1600/wso1.png
if I publish my web services in Java, does that means any client who has my WSDL can use my service, even if he/she uses .NET or something else than Java? Can ESB handle that?
If you are talking about web services, that means they are independent from programming language. Of course ESB can handle it and it can handle many other protocols as it is the integration hub.
Unfortunately, only the use of a specific technology is not a concrete evidence that you are doing SOA, as said in other response by Kasun Indrasiri, SOA is a concept, a technique that can be implemented using various tools from different vendors.
If you are designing services following the SOA Principles, you will be probably doing SOA, even if the tools you are using do not have all the features present in other modern platforms.
In my opinion, if your company does not have a of multi million dollars budget to spend on software licenses, you can still benefit from SOA using current tools.