Learn REST APIs: Your guide to how to find, learn, and connect to the REST APIs that powers the Internet of Things revolution

REST APIs are the behind-the-scenes connections that let websites, apps, and other software exchange data. In Learn REST APIs, Tony Gaitatzis explains how those connections work and why they matter—from the client making a request to the server returning a resource in a useful format. It’s a practical introduction to the ideas that help developers connect software to online services and data.

Understand the conversation between client and server

The book lays out the fundamentals of REST APIs: what they are, how clients use them, and how a web server handles requests. It introduces resources, URLs, HTTP, and the structure of requests and responses, giving readers a framework for making sense of API interactions.

Make sense of the data

Examples using JSON and XML show how the same information can be represented in different formats. The discussion also addresses status messages and the conventions that help clients interpret a server’s response—useful context when working with an API rather than simply encountering one as a black box.

Connect the concepts to real applications

Gaitatzis describes how APIs support services across websites, mobile apps, and internet-connected devices. The book also covers finding APIs, understanding how they are used, and the basic create, read, update, and delete operations that let clients work with data.

A starting point for learning REST

Written as an introduction to REST API concepts and use, this book may suit readers who want a clearer grasp of how software communicates over the web, as well as developers building their foundation in API integration. Its emphasis on the request-and-response model helps bring the moving parts into view before readers apply them in their own projects.

For anyone curious about the connections powering modern online services, this is a focused place to begin exploring REST APIs.