MDN Rest - JavaScript

REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for building distributed systems. It is frequently used in web applications to exchange data between the client and server.

Introduction to REST

What is REST?

REST is a set of architectural constraints that can be used to design a web service. RESTful web services adhere to these constraints, making them highly scalable and maintainable.

Key Principles of REST

• Client-Server: Separation of concerns allows the client and server to evolve independently.
• Stateless: Each request contains enough information for the server to satisfy it. The server does not maintain any state between requests.
• Cache: Responses can be cached to improve performance.
• Uniform Interface: The operations performed by the client and server should be well-defined and uniform in their representation.
• Layered System: A client cannot tell whether it is communicating directly with the server or an intermediary.

Building a REST API with JavaScript

Express

Express is a popular Node.js framework for building web applications, including REST APIs.

Creating a Simple REST API with Express

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server listening on port 3000');
});

Serving Static Files with Express

app.use(express.static('public'));

Handling Routes with Express

app.get('/users', (req, res) => {
  const users = [{ name: 'John', age: 25 }, { name: 'Jane', age: 30 }];
  res.json(users);
});

app.post('/users', (req, res) => {
  // Handle creation of new user
});

app.put('/users/:id', (req, res) => {
  // Handle updating user with given ID
});

app.delete('/users/:id', (req, res) => {
  // Handle deletion of user with given ID
});

Conclusion

RESTful web services provide a flexible and scalable approach to building distributed systems. With the power of JavaScript, we can easily build a RESTful API using frameworks like Express. Keep the key principles of REST in mind while designing your API and you'll be on your way to building a highly maintainable and scalable application.