REST API Design Rulebook

by Mark Masse

Overview

In today's market, where rival web services compete for attention, a well-designed REST API is a must-have feature. This concise book presents a set of API design rules, drawn primarily from best practices that stick close to the Web's REST architectural style. Along with rules for URI design and HTTP use, you'll learn guidelines for media types and representational forms.

REST APIs are ubiquitous, but few of them follow a consistent design methodology. Using these simple rules, you will design web service APIs that adhere to recognized web standards. To assist you, author Mark Massé introduces the Web Resource Modeling Language (WRML), a conceptual framework he created for the design and implementation of REST APIs.

• Learn design rules for addressing resources with URIs
• Apply design principles to HTTP's request methods and response status codes
• Work with guidelines for conveying metadata through HTTP headers and media types
• Get design tips to address the needs of client programs, including the special needs of browser-based JavaScript clients
• Understand why REST APIs should be designed and configured, not coded

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449310509
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/31/2011
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Mark Masse resides in Seattle, where he is a Senior Director of Engineering at ESPN.



Mark has fourteen years of engineering, management, and architecture experience with The Walt Disney Company. He began his career with Starwave creating rich, interactive Java applets for ESPN Sportszone, NFL.com, and NASCAR Online. Mark architected and developed the content management system (CMS) that powers all of the Disney web sites including ESPN.com, ABC.com and Disney.com. In 2008, he received a "Disney Inventor Award" for creating a "System and Method for Determining the Data Model Used to Create a Web Page."

Table of Contents

• Dedication
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Identifier Design with URIs
• Chapter 3: Interaction Design with HTTP
• Chapter 4: Metadata Design
• Chapter 5: Representation Design
• Chapter 6: Client Concerns
• Chapter 7: Final Thoughts
• My First REST API