You're reading from RESTful API Design Patterns and Best Practices Master REST API design with real-world patterns, lifecycle management, and OpenAPI practices

Product type Paperback

Published in Oct 2025

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781835885284

Length 406 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Languages

JavaScript

Tools

.NET

Concepts

REST API

Authors (2):

Andrzej Jarzyna

Samir Amzani

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Table of Contents (20) Chapters

Preface

1. The Apprentice’s Study – Preparing for the Craft

2. The “Why” of API Development FREE CHAPTER

3. API as a Product: Designing APIs with a Product Mindset

4. Understanding Application and API Lifecycles

5. Applying Domain-Driven Design to APIs

6. The Wizard’s Grimoire – Mastering the Fundamentals of REST

7. Comparing and Choosing the Right API Style

8. REST Design Constraints and Maturity Models

9. Constructing an API Design Domain Model

10. Designing and Managing Effective API Contracts

11. The Archmage’s Circle – Forging and Evolving API Contracts

12. Understanding the OpenAPI Specification

13. OpenAPI as a Contract: Best Practices and Implementation

14. Using JSON Schema to Define Your Object Models

15. Don’t Hate Your Hypermedia: Creating APIs for Humans and AIs

16. API Change Management: Strategies for Versioning and Evolution

17. Unlock Your Book’s Exclusive Benefits

How to unlock these benefits in three easy steps

18. Other Books You May Enjoy

19. Index

Comparing and Choosing the Right API Style

This chapter delves into the critical concept of application programming interface (API) styles, providing a comprehensive understanding of how architectural principles influence API design. API styles dictate not only the structure and interaction patterns of an API but also how data is modeled, communicated, and managed. The choice of API style is pivotal to a project’s success, as it directly impacts scalability, flexibility, and overall performance.

We’ll explore the four major API style families—function-based, resource-based, query-based, and event-based—each of which is tailored to different use cases. A key focus will be on resource-based APIs, particularly the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style, which has gained popularity due to its simplicity, scalability, and alignment with web standards. REST APIs use standard HTTP methods to interact with resources and offer benefits such...