eli5: The difference between RESTful API and a Web API
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A Web API is any API used by services over the web.
A RESTful API is a web API following the REST methodology, or conforms to specific conditions.
Any time a service exchanges information in a standardized way over the internet that is a form of an API: Application Programming Interface. The service or website has a way for other programs or services to talk to it and get information, and that is an API.
REST is a specific form of an API, but generally RESTful api’s are stateless (Each request is made in vacuum and then forgotten), resources are ordered into clear hiearchies, typically use the HTTP verbs to tell the service what you want to do with the resource you requested (POST, GET, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE), and if you’re being particular about it the API is structured so that a program can navigate it without the manual simply by following hyperlinks that are included in the response.
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